Chicago Museum of Holography

Yesterday, a few buddies and I headed into West Loop to go visit the Museum of Holography, a 4-room palace devoted solely to the art of the hologram. When we got there, we were extremely disappointed to find that the door was locked and gated, despite it being 2 hours past when they should have opened (posted hours are wed-sun 12:30-5). My friend Joe persistently rang the doorbell as I checked out the side door, all the while our other friend JD ridiculed us for our determination. "Ringing the bell over and over won't make it any more open" he said, as just then a little old lady, who had to have been at least 90, shuffled up from downstairs in her socks and slowly drew back the gate and unlocked the door. "Our hours are Wednesday to Sunday from 12:30 to 5" she explained to us, to which I replied "Well, today's wednesday" "Oh is that right?" "and it's almost 2:30" "Oh well you came all this way, you might as well come in." Barely able to contain our laughter, the four of us were led in by this sweet relic of the past. Persistence triumphant.

We then offered her our $5 admission (if we hadn't I doubt she would have remembered to charge us) and she then proceeded to explain to us that if we understood atomic physics, then we understood holograms. We nodded, and then she explained how to view the holograms; stand roughly 3 feet away and move our heads and our bodies from side to side to get the full effect. She then flipped on the lights, bringing to life walls full of pictures depicting everything from Mike Ditka to an eagle that turns into an owl, then back into an eagle. Let me just say, if I wasn't particularly impressed by holograms before, I am now bewildered by their majesty and endless possibility. One room was devoted to medical holograms, with 3D renderings of testicles and lungs ("they're not just hollow bags, you know" our curator barked). A main exhibition hall was filled with larger works, such as a shark and a painter who magically created as you moved from one side of the room to the other. The highlights though were definitely the holographic mini-movies, contained in clear cylinders reminiscent of Zoetropes that recalled the holograms projected by R2D2. These cylinders displayed pieces such as "Time Man" one chemist's inexplicable journey through the cosmos, and my personal favorite "Michael Jordan", depicting His Airness simply smiling, spinning, and passing a basketball around his body from one hand to the other.

After we had seen the entirety of the museum's offerings, we were greeted back in the first room by a cat, and our elderly curator. This is when things got really interesting. After asking us how we heard about her establishment, at least twice each, she handed us hologram glasses and told us to look at our hands, which revealed holographic projections of our usually non-holographic hands. Then she prompted us to look up at the lights, revealing the whole spectrum of white light. Then she had us do all this maybe 3 more times, while asking us how we heard about the place. She went on to explain (again about 3 or 4 times) that this rainbow light is all around us, we just weren't built to see it "because otherwise we'd all be driving through rainbows all the time!" she told us 3 more times. Her cat however, is a "night hunter" and can barely see any color at all. She then took out a collection of about 10 spinning flat discs, "see these? they have no color at all." She then spun them all in rapid succession, displaying for us a melee of spinning patterns and colors, only enhanced by our magic glasses. "This is what the universe looks like. And Here we are. And when I spin it this way, all the energy of the universe is flying outwards, and when I spin it this way, it all comes back in." Though I had a lot of trouble biting my lip to keep myself from bursting out in uproarious laughter (the four of us just about fell apart the second we stepped out the door) it was maybe one of the most beautiful experiences of my life; crazy, but beautiful. If you live in or are visiting the wonderful city of Chicago, and haven't been to this Museum before, I struggle to think of many better ways you can spend an hour and 5 bucks. A+

Other semi-related thoughts:

-David was the fourth

-With the closing of the MIT Museum of Holography in 1992, this became the only such Museum in the US (as our wonderful curator told us over and over again)

-She told us that the kids come in "squeeling" with excitement over the holograms, expressing hope that they will grow up to take the technology to more advanced applications. She may be right.