Colour holography matters because it challenges the reliability of perception itself.

Unlike conventional photography or digital imaging, holography records not only colour and light, but spatial presence – producing images that appear physically tangible while remaining immaterial.

The addition of colour intensifies this ambiguity, creating shifting visual experiences that change with movement, viewpoint, and illumination. In doing so, colour holography expands the language of representation beyond static images, inviting viewers to question how reality is constructed through light, memory, and perception.

When Perception Defies Reality

Commissioned by the Encyclopedia of Modern Optics, this contribution highlights a divergence between scientific precision and artistic freedom.

While scientific researchers strove to develop holograms with accurate colour reproduction for archival purposes, artists embraced technical “flaws” in the system. They manipulated chemical emulsions to shift colours or utilised the “rainbow hologram” technique to turn light into a “sculptural material in space.” These creative interventions allowed artists to “display ‘pieces’ of light and colour within space,” unburdened by the need for photographic accuracy.

The article argues that colour holography is not just a technical achievement but a language for visualising space. It offers a “hyper-reality” which allows us to experience “extremely high-resolution objects in full parallax three dimensions without the need for a viewing device.”

Pepper, A. (2018). Colour Holography: Perception Versus Technical Reality. In Encyclopedia of Modern Optics II (Vol. 4). Elsevier Ltd.