p165-175 - Media Arts and Technology

A&T
Rockne Krebs
B o rn Kan sa sCity, M is s our i, 1938
R eside ntWashin gton, D. C.
The Hewlett-PackardCorporation contracted with the
Muse um as a Sp on s or Cor por at ion in Augus t , 1968 , a f t e r
a f airly p rolo ng ed ex c hangeof c or r es pondenc ebet w e e n
the Museu m an d Dav id Pac k ar d. Hewlet t - Pac k ar dh a d
declin ed to jo in a s Pat r on Spons or , and we m ight n o t
have pe rsistedso long in s olic it ing t heir c ooper at io n
exc ep t th at we ha d t our ed t heir Palo Alt o f ac ilit y w i t h
Mr. Packa rd in July and f elt s t r ongly t hat t heir t ec h n o logical p ote ntia l fo r an ar t is t , es pec iallyin t he ar ea o f
las ers,wa s exce pti onally im por t ant . By joining t he
program in the Sponsor capacity, Hewlett-Packard
ultimate ly p rovide d v aluable r es our c esand went t o
co nside rab lee ffort and ex pens ein as s is t ingt he ar t i s t
match ed with the m - t heir c om m it m ent f inally equ a l l e d
that of most Patron Sponsor corporations.
After Hewlett-Packard had signed a Sponsor Corporation
contract, nearly a year passedbefore they receivedan
artist, th ou gh the as s ignm ent .when m ade, was ac co m plishe d ea sily.
I n March, |96 9, H al G lic k s m an r ec eiv eda let t er f r o m
Wa sh ing ton , D.C. a r t is t Roc k ne Kr ebs :
Walter Hopps suggestedthat I contact you if I was
inte rested in p ar t ic ipat ing in t he L. A. Count y
Mu se um's 'Art and Tec hnology ' s how. I am .
Perh ap sWalte r m ent ioned m y light s t r uc t ur est o y o u .
I wo uld b e p artic ular ly int er es t edin pr oduc ing o n e i n
colla bo ratio n wi t h a c or por at ion whic h m ak es l a s e r s .
I have been plugging away at these things since the
sprin g o f 1 96 7 when I panhandleda las erand s e t o n e
o f th e structure s up in m y apar t m ent . Sinc e t he n
there have been three one-man shows-a fourth
comin g u p a t the Cor c or an in M ay [ t his was lat e r
rescheduledfor November] . I have yet to scratch the
su rface in terms of t he pos s ibilit ies .The inev it ab l e
in hib iting fa cto r s f or m e ar e t ec hnic al as s is t ancea n d
the e qu ipme nt nec es s ar yt o r ealiz et he wor k . Ne e d l e s s
to say, your project sounds attractive to me.
I no w h ave e igh t light s of m y own. All but one w e r e
p urcha se dfro m Spec t r a- Phy s ic sa, f ir m bas edin
Mou nta in Vie w, Calif or nia. Their loc al r ep has b e e n
rea so na blyco op er at iv eabout lending m e equipm e n t
whe n h e h as it a v ailable.I under s t andt hat Spec t r a Physics is one of the few companies left whose
p rimary pro du c t is las er s .I m ent ion t his bec aus e
Spe ctra -Physicsm ight be lim it ed in how m uc h t h e y
could afford to subsidizethis kind of project as
compared to a large corporation for which lasers
wou ld be a sub s idiar y pr oduc t . I am jus t s pec ul a t i n g ,
h owe ve r. La se r a pplic at ionsappar ent ly hav e not k e p t
u p with wha t was env is ionedinit ially .
lf yo u are in tere s t ed,I will pr epar e a det ailed pr o po sa l fo r a pie c e.
We w e r e i n d e e d i n t e r e s t e d ,a n d o n A p r i l 1 1 , R o c k n e se n t
u s a c a r e f u l l y d r a w n u p p r o p o s a l . l t d e s c r i b e dt w o
works, one to be set up outdoors and shown at night,
the other an indoor piece. He called them Night Passage
and Day Passage.In May, we brought Krebs to California
f o r t h r e e d a y s t o t o u r c o r p o r a t i o n s .H e v i s i t e d H e w l e ttP a c k a r d ,a n d s i g n e da n a r t i s t c o n t r a c t . l t w a s i m m e d ia t e l y e v i d e n t t h a t H e w l e t t - P a c k a r dw o u l d b e w e l l e q ui p p e d t o w o r k w i t h K r e b s , a n d f o l l o w i n g K r e b s ' t o u r , we
s e n t h i s p r o p o s a l t o D a n L a n s d o n ,A d m i n i s t r a t i v e H e a d
of Hewlett-Packard'slaboratory, with a letter urging that
a collaborationbe initiated. On June 6, Lansdonphoned
to say that Hewlett-Packardwas preparedto work with
Krebs: it was agreedthat Krebs would begin residencein
mid-July. A year later, Rocknewrote about his feelings
at that time, just after he had first toured the corporation:
I n i t i a l l y , f r o m t h e p o i n t o f v i e w o f r e a l i z i n ga l a s er
p i e c e , I h a d s o m e m i s g i v i n g sa b o u t a c o l l a b o r a t i o n
with Hewlett-Packard.They made lasers,but I had no
idea if they were the type suited for my work. The
security lid was on the project they had going with
lasersand they ref used to discussit with me.
I d i d f e e l t h a t t h e r e w e r e s o m e i n t e r e s t i n gp e o p l e
there but in terms of Hewlett-Packard'sproducts, I
d i d n o t i m m e d i a t e l y s e ea n y p o s s i b i l i t i e sf o r t h e k in d
of work that was on my mind when I went to Palo
Alto....
To be completely honestabout it, at the time I
wanted very much to make a piece. This is not the
cool, think-tank theme that might be popular to
peddle, but severalyears of ideation and attempts to
visualizepiecesthat were beyond my resourcesto
r e a l i z e ,b o t h t e c h n i c a l l y a n d f i n a n c i a l l y , h a d p r e c e d e d
my initial visit.
M a u r i c e T u c h m a n a n d H a l G l i c k s m a ns t r e s s e dt h e
i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e u n k n o w n p o s s i b i l i t i e st h a t t h i s so r t
o f c o l l a b o r a t i o n m i g h t p o i n t t o : O u o t e M T : 'Y o u
may not even want to make a laser piece.'
O k a y . I w a s s k e p t i c a l ,b u t I t o l d M T , H G , J L a n d B A
that I would be glad to go to Hewlett-Packardand
s p e n d t i m e i n t h e l a b s a n d s e ew h a t h a p p e n e d .
Wh o k n o w s w h a t w a s o n t h e g r o u p m i n d a t t h e
H e w l e t t - P a c k a r dl a b s ?T h e r e w a s a n u n k n o w n .
Titillating.
K r e b s w a s a t t h i s t i m e m o r e e n t h u s i a s t i ca b o u t d o i n g a n
outdoor piece (some version of Night Passage),than the
indoor Day Passageand in June sent us an RCA price
scheduleon laserequipment with hand-written notes on
h o w h e m i g h t u s e t h e i r a r g o n l a s e r ,M o d e l L D 2 1 0 0 , fo r
such a project. He wrote,
Th e L D 21 00 has an int er nal c av it y pr is m a s s e m b l y
which p erm it s t he s elec t ionof a m inim um o f s i x
ind ivid ua l f r equenc ies - c olor s .
It sho uld be pos s iblet o dev is ea way t o r un t h r o u g h
its co lor ra nge c ont inuous ly whic h is f r om g r e e n ye llow to blue. Now t r y t o im agine a huge e x t e r i o r
light structure of three of these on different cycles
an d o ne stable r ed 50 m w helium neon z ap p i n g
be twee n the buildings and f inally s hoot ing o f f o v e r
Wilsh ire in t o t he L. A. at m os pher e. [ ' l ]
Flo wers wo uld gr ow in t he c em ent out f r on t o f t h e
L .A. Co un t y M us eum t he t hr ee or f our hou r s a n i g h t
th at it wa s t ur ned on.
In fact-let this be my proposal to Hewlett-Packard.I
recall that they have one argon lasersome place. They
wou ld be gin by m ak ing an aut om at ic wav e l e n g t h
se lectord ev ic e t hat r uns on a c ont inuous c y c l e f o r
the ir arg on las er .( Alt hough I would be inte r e s t e di n
h ow it's do ne, it is not nec es s ar yt hat I k no w . T h e n i f
I'm allo wed out t her e I c ould hav e t hat t o b e g i n
expe rimen t ing wit h when I ar r iv e in J uly . l f i t d o e s
what I think it will, we could then see about renting
or borrowing the one or two more lasersnecessaryto
re alizethe piec e. ) | would lik e t o be able t o c o n t r o l
the cycle rate-slow or fast, and to be able to stop it
on a spe ci f ic c olor if I want ed . . . .
By th e time Kr ebs ar r iv ed in Palo Alt o in J uly , a n d t h e
colla bo ratio n was under way , it had bec om e f a i r l y c e r t a i n
that some of the A & T projects would go to Expo 70,
and we encouraged Krebs and Hewlett-Packardto
e xe cu te a la se renv ir onm ent t hat c ould be dis p l a y e d i n
the New Arts area. Thus, the idea of creating an outdoor
work was relegatedto secondary priority. Krebs and
Hewlett-Packard'sphysicist Laurence Hubby did run
some night tests during his stay at Hewlett-Packard
in vo lvin g a la s erbeam dir ec t ed int o t he at m os p h e r ea n d
h an d-ma nip ulat edm ec hanic allyt o c hangec ol o r . T h i s
p erip he ralexper im ent at ion was ac t ually of k e y i m p o r tance to the artist in many respects.He afterward wrote,
I h ave a rea s onablygood s c ienc e- f ic t ionba c k g r o u n d .
When I arrived at the Hewlett-Packardlabs I could
turn a laser ' on' and' of f . ' I f elt t hat t he t ec h n o l o g y
involved was best left to the technicians.Still do with
this qu alifi c at ion: I want t o k now all t he c a p a b i l i t i e s
an d limitations of t he t ool. W hat we wer e d o i n g
wasn't merely collaborating on the execution of a
piece for Expo. I was able, with the assistanceof
Hubby and others, to researchin a much broader
se nse,po ss ibilit iesf or wor k t hat had not hin g t o d o
with any particular piece. For example: Larry Hubby
and I would go back to the labs in the evening (on his
time off). We would set up and run the tests for
outdoor pieces.With Larry's assistanceI was able to
d e t e r m i n e t h e p o w e r o f l a s e rr e q u i r e d t o d o an
o u t d o o r p i e c e ,a n d t h e s i z e o f o p t i c a l t e l e s c op e
n e c e s s a r yt o r e f o c u s t h e l a s e rl i g h t t o g e t m i n i m a l
d i v e r g e n c ei n r e l a t i o n t o d i s t a n c e . I n o t h e r w or d s,
w h a t m y s c a l el i m i t a t i o n s w e r e . I l e a r n e dt h a t th e r e
w a s a d e f i n i t e r e l a t i o n s h i pb e t w e e n t h e p a r t i c l e si ze ,
the frequency of the light (color), and how well it
s c a t t e r e du n d e r n o r m a l a t m o s p h e r i c c o n d i t i on s- a p p e a r e dv i s i b l e a l o n g t h e p a t h o f t h e b e a m . I l ea r n e d
that the blues and greenswould be scattered better
by the incidental matter present in the atmosphere
than the longer wavelengthsof red.
T h r o u g h o u t K r e b s ' i n i t i a l r e s i d e n c ea t H e w l e t t - Pa cka r d ,
f r o m J u l y 2 1 t h r o u g h A u g u s t , a n d i n t h e l a t e r s ta g e so f
the project, Dan Lansdon servedas his principal contact.
L a n s d o n w a s e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y h e l p f u l i n d i r e c t i n g th e
a r t i s t t o t h e r i g h t p e r s o n n e lf o r a d v i c e a n d a s s i s ta n cei n
the various technical aspectsof the project; according to
Krebs,"Lansdon had the authority, and usedit: he
knew what people to see and how to approach them."
K r e b s n o t o n l y w o r k e d w i t h a g r e a t n u m b e r o f te ch n i c i a n s a t H e w l e t t - P a c k a r d ,b u t m a d e s e v e r a lc o n n e ct i o n s w i t h l a s e re x p e r t s o u t s i d e t h e i r l a b o r a t o r y. Th e
Palo Alto area is probably the world center of laser
r e s e a r c h ,a n d o n f i v e o r s i x o c c a s i o n s ,K r e b s w a s l e d b y
Hewlett-Packardpeople to seek information from
experts at such nearby organizationsas Spectra-Physics,
Coherent Radiation Laboratories and Stanford Research
Laboratories.He presenteda slide lecture to personnel at
Spectra-Physicswhich was receivedwith considerable
e n t h u s i a s m .I n d e e d t h e f i r s t t w o o r t h r e e w e e k s o f
Krebs' stay in Palo Alto were devoted primarily to a
p r o c e s so f g a t h e r i n ga n d e x c h a n g i n gi n f o r m a t i o n a n d
s i m p l y c o n v e r s i n gi n f o r m a l l y w i t h v a r i o u s l a s e rre se a r ch ers. Krebs said later that when he arrived at HewlettP a c k a r dw i t h h i s p r o j e c t i n m i n d , h e " d i d n 't k n ow i f th e
piece waspossible; I suspectedit was, but it was much
m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d t h a n I h a d e n v i s i o n e d .T e c h n i ca l l y,
i t 's m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d t h a n a n y w o r k I 'v e d o n e . "
Rockne also commented that he was intensely affected
intellectually by his experience in Palo Alto: "My rnind
was stimulated," he said,"in a way it neverhad been
b e f o r e , a n d p r o b a b l y n e v e r w o u l d b e . p a r t i c u l a rl y b y
art."
Krebs was extremely gratified to find that he could
easily obtain direct and preciseanswersto questions he
h a d h i t h e r t o n o t b e e n a b l e t o r e s o l v e .F o r e x a m p l e , h e
consulted with a Stanford Besearchlnstitute physicist,
D r . A r t h u r V a s s i l i a d u so
. n t h e i s s u eo f t h e p r e c i se
threshold levelsof eye damage by laser light, and got
e x a c t q u a n t i t a t i v e i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m h i m , b a s e do n
recent studies,that probably was not availableat that
time anywhere else in the world.
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I8 V
168
One incid en t occu rred . n ot dir ec t ly r elat ed t o his wor k
on the main p roje ct, whi c h m ay hav e es pec iallys ignif icant ramifica tion sfor Kr ebs . He was as k edt o pr es enta
lecture with slidesto a group of Hewlett-Packardemployees.Th e talk e licite d s im ilar int er es t t o t hat ex pr es sed by the Spectra-Physicsaudience,and one man, a
scientist named Egon Loebner, approached Krebs at the
end of t he p resen tatio nto inv it e him t o lunc h. Loebner
is an authority on patent procedure (he was teaching a
c ourse in inven tion a t Sta nf or d) , and he f elt t hat s om ething R ockn e h ad de mon s t r at ed m ight in pr inc iple be a
patentable technique. He saw in some of Rockne's laser
l ight con figu ratio nsa p otent ially ut ilit ar ian f unc t ion as a
deviceshowin g p articula r way s of ar c hit ec t ur ally delineating space ,o r "lig ht as s t r uc t ur e. " Loebner and Kr ebs
sought the advice of a patent lawyer whom Loebner
knew, and as a result a patent searchis presently underway for what is being termed "architectural photon
structures." According to Krebs' description of the
project ed u se sfor th is ph onom enon, it would be em ployed litera lly as a n archit ec t ur alelem ent . For ex ample, t emp ora ry wa lls, fals e c eilingsand r oom div ider s
might be created with laser light. Such structures could
be constructed indoors or outdoors; one advantage,for
i n st ance,mig ht a pp ly in a lands c apes it uat ion, in whic h
o ne w ish ed to ma rk ou t a s pac ewit hout phy s ic ally
disrupt ing the te rrain or f lor a. Alt hough t his pot ent ial
f unct ion for h is laseren v ir onm ent s had not oc c ur r ed t o
K rebs, he qu ickly saw its r at ionale,as env is ionedby
Loebner. Krebs had used light in this way repeatedly,
but was not particularly aware that it might constitute a
pat ent ab leinven tion , o r ev en t hat he m ay indeed hav e
been doing it for the first time.
s i b l e . T h e l a t t e r w a s n e c e s s a r yt o g i v e m e f l e x i b i l i t y
w h e n r e d i r e c t i n gt h e l i g h t b e a m . S e c o n d , t h e y h a d t o
b e s t a b l e ,s o t h a t o n c e a p o s i t i o n w a s d e t e r m i n e d t h e
m o u n t i t s e l f w o u l d n o t s l i p a n d c a u s em i s a l i g n m e n t .
Third, the mount had to be attachedto a wall of
similar plane. Fourth, I wanted all this to happen in
a s d i s c r e e ta p i e c e o f a p p a r a t u sa s p o s s i b l e :a s m a l l
three inch diameter mirror mount that would protrude little f rom the wall. (My feeling about these
piecesis that the work of art is not the apparatus.
R a t h e r , l t i s a s c o r e o r a r r a n g e m e n tI o r w h a t e v e r ]
d e t e r m i n e d i n r e l a t i o n s h i pt o a s p e c i f i c e n c l o s u r e .
Allowing for the obvious contradiction of the necess i t y f o r s o m e k i n d o f a p p a r a t u sI m i r r o r m o u n t ] t o
redirect the light it is important to me that they be as
inconspicuousas possible.)
This kind of mirror mount (or Maurice's term 'beam
j o i n t ') i s n o t s t o c k o p t i c a l e q u i p m e n t . D a n L a n s d o n
a n d I s p e n t a n a m a z i n gn u m b e r o f h o u r s d i s c u s s i n g
t h e r e q u i r e m e n t sa n d a t t e m p t i n g t o f i n d s o m e k i n d o f
existing mount that could be altered-none existed!
Although severalof Hewlett-Packard'smechanical
engineersworked on it at various times, it was Lansdon who resolvedand perfected a mir ror mount
w h i c h s a t i s f i e dm y r e q u i r e m e n t s ,w i t h t h e b e a u t i f u l
p l u s o f b e i n g r e l a t i v e l y i n e x p e n s i v et o p r o d u c e - a b o u t
$ 3 0 p e r m o u n t . l f I c o n t i n u e t o w o r k w i t h l a s e r s .a s
In executing the piece for Expo, Krebs worked perhaps
most closely with Hewlett-Packardphysicist Laurence
H ubby [ 2j, wh o d esign edand put t oget her t he opt ic al
apparatus,a nd with o ptics engineerBr uc e Ruf f . O f t he
system designedby Hubby, Krebs was to say later. "The
apparatusthat controls the argon beam is a work of art
i n itself. lt ha s b ee n a bsolut ely beaut if ully des igned." t3l (A techn ica l des c r ipt ion of t he opt ic al
system developed for Krebs was written for us by John
Lazier,a nd is includ ed a s an appendix on p. ' l 76. ) Bes ide s
the intricate optical system, which incorporated hundreds of parts, the work basically comprised a seriesof
s mall mirro rs to d irect th e light beam s ,t wo helium neon
lasers,special mounts for the helium neon lasers,the
largeargon laser,the fog-producing machine needed to
increasethe visibility of the beams,and two eight and
one-half by fourteen foot plate glassmirrors which were
made in Japan. The Japanesecompany that provided the
mirrors stated that they may be the largesttrue mirrors
ever made. Rockne wrote, elaborating on the system,
Thesesmall mirrors were no small design problem.
First, they neededto be adjustablethrough three
axes-x, y, and z. with as much adjustment as pos-
s e e m sl i k e l y a t t h i s t i m e . t r y t o i m a g i n e h o w l o n g i t
would havetaken, how much it would havecost, how
difficult it would have been for me to locate people
c a p a b l eo f a n d w i l l i n g t o b o t h e r d e s i g n i n gt h i s o n e
little item. With the prototype which I now have I
can have them made myself.
t
A&T
The main aspect of the proiect accomplished in terms of
r e a l i z i n gt h e p i e c e f o r E x p o d u r i n g K r e b s ' i n i ti a l sta y a t
Hewlett-Packardwas the designingof the programmed
optical system; this is of course in some ways the crux of
w h a t t h e w o r k i s a b o u t , b u t i t s t i l l r e m a i n e dto a ctu a l l y
o b t a i n t h e l a r g e a r g o n l a s e r ( a p r o b l e m w h i c h ca u se d
d i f f i c u l t i e s u n t i l t h e l a s t m o m e n t ) a n d p h y s i ca l l y se t u p
t h e e n t i r e s t r u c t u r e f o r f i n a l e x p e r i m e n t a t i o na n d
perfection. This processhad to take place in the installat i o n a r e a a t E x p o . F o r t u n a t e l y , t h e r e w a s c o n si d e r a b l e
f l e x i b i l i t y i n t h e f i n a l d i s p o s i t i o n o f t h e c o m po n e n ts
w i t h i n a p r e s c r i b e ds p a c e .
HG wrote this memo to the staff on August 28, 1969:
R o c k n e K r e b s h a s l e f t P a l o A l t o f o r Wa s h i n g to n ,D .C .
H e w i l l r e t u r n m i d O c t o b e r . I T h i s w a s e v e n tu a l l y
postponed.J Hewlett has approved $10,000 worth of
m i r r o r s a n d o t h e r d e v i c e sf o r t h e i n f i n i t y r e fl e cto r
system and other useswhich Krebs gets to keep. The
Argon laserhas not been approved. Jelco (Japan
E l e c t r o n i c sC o . ) m a k e s a s u i t a b l e l a s e rt h a t co u l d b e
r e n t e d i n J a p a n . L a n s d o n i s i n v e s t i g a t i n gt h i s a n d
other possibilities.
In September, Krebs met in New York with members of
t h e E x p o E x h i b i t i o n D e s i g nT e a m a n d u s . A t th a t ti m e a
tentative location for the work was selected.lt seemed
then that the major problems were the hazard created by
i
L
\
t
i
'l
t he a rtificia l fog (this ac t ually pos ed no dif f ic ult ies ) a n d
the rental or purchaseof the argon laser. Krebs needed a
cor rid or-likespa ceor s pac eswit h low am bient light ;
t he se req uire men tswer e eas ily m et , and it was pr ov i s i o n ally d ecide d to dist r ibut e t he bounc ing light beam s i n
sev era se
l ctio nslo ca t ed at v ar ious point s in t he ar ea ,
moun ted h igh o ve rhead.Kr ebs m ade s ev er aldr awin g s
showin g alte rna tiveplans f or dis t r ibut ing pas s ages
of
las e rligh t thro ug h the New Ar t s ar ea. [ 4]
A f t er this me etin g,s om e r adic al r ev is ionsin t he Ne w
Arts area were effected.
K re bs wro te to Da n Lans don on O c t ober 15,
. . . I men tion ed when I c alled las t week t hat t he
a rch itect o f th e U . S. Pav ilion in O s ak a, lv an Che r mayeff, indicated there were going to be some
ch an ge sin th e New Ar t s Ex hibit ar ea. I hav ejus t
receiveda revisedplan for the area. The space is now
divide d in to roo m s r at her t han hav ing it in one b i g
area. My new space is roughly forty feet by twenty
feet. This changesthe enclosureto the extent that my
piece will have to be reworked. I am concerned now
tha t in a more co nf ined ar ea t he int ens it y of t he
Argo n's gre en a nd blue beam swill wipe out t he l o w e r
po wer He Ne re d.
The altered spaceshould not changethe apparatuswe
co llab ora tedo n t his s um m er ex c ept f or r educ ing t h e
nu mbe r o f small m ir r or m ount s r eouir ed. I t hink I
said twenty versusthirty mounts last week when we
ta lke d. Red ucethat t o f if t een t ot al ( or f our t een i n
a dd ition to the pr ot ot y pe I hav e) ,and hold up
making the mo unt f or t he He Ne las er s. . . .
Hewlett-Packardand the Museum attempted to procure
the arg on la se ra s a donat ion f r om it s m anuf ac t ur er .
F ina lly, it wa s p urchas edby Hewlet t - Pac k ar df r om
C oh ere nt Ra dia tion Labor at or ies ,and t wo helium n e o n
gas la se rs,mod el 2 51, wer e lent by Univ er s it y Labo r a tories.
O nce it was de term ined t hat t he lar ge par allel m ir r o r s
would b e ma de in J apan. and t he s our c esof t he t hr e e
lase rsan d the fo g juic e was r es olv ed,t he ques t ion o f
actu ally installin g th e wor k at Ex po was at is s ue.Th e r e
was no doubt that Krebs would have to supervisethe
insta llatio n h imse lf . but bef or e his ar r iv al c ons ider a b l e
preparation was expected.
Krebs wrote to David Sutton, November 28,1969,
Re ga rdin gyou r s ugges t ionin y our Nov em ber 18
letter that the Japanesecontractor purchaseand
install the mirror s - l hav e t hr ee enc los ur eswhic h
sho uld g ive you t he inf or m at ion he would need. I l i k e
th e id ea of h aving t he f loor t o c eiling wall of m i r r o r s
as you suggestedover the phone, and I think it could
b e d o n e . l t w o u l d m a k e f o r a b e t t e r l o o k i n g i n s t a ll a t i o n t h a n w h a t i s c a l l e d f o r i n m y e n c l o s u r e s .M y
r e a s o n sf o r n o t s u g g e s t i n gt h i s p o s s i b i l i t y i n i t i a l l y
w e r e t h e a d d i t i o n a l e x p e n s eo f t h e m i r r o r s a n d t h e
d i f f i c u l t i e s e n c o u n t e r e di n a l i g n i n g t h e m i r r o r s i n a
c o - p l a n a rr e l a t i o n s h i p . l t w o u l d b e n e c e s s a r yt o i n sta l l
t h e p l y w o o d p a n e l i n gi n s u c h a w a y t h a t y o u c o u l d
i n s u r et h e t w o w a l l s u s e d w i t h t h e m i r r o r s b e c o planar before any attempt is made to install the
m i r r o r s . T h e n , i n i n s t a l l i n gt h e m i r r o r s , I w o u l d
r e c o m m e n d c o v e r i n gt h e e n t i r e s u r f a c eo f t h e p l y w o o d w i t h a n e v e n c o a t i n g o f 'm i r r o r m a s t i k . ' T h i s
could certainly be done before I arrive in Osaka.
(Note: the mirrors to be usedare simply standard
o n e - f o u r t h i n c h t h i c k p l a t e g l a s s .T h e y c o m e i n a
stock size of eight feet by ten feet in the U.S.) Once I
a m t h e r e a n d i n s t a l l t h e l a s e r sa n d o t h e r a p p a r a t u s,i t
w o u l d b e n e c e s s a r yt o d r i l l t h r e e h o l e s i n o n e m i r r o r .
However, I do not think this will posea problem.
K r e b s r e t u r n e d t o H e w l e t t - P a c k a r df o r a w e e k i n J a n u a r y , 1 9 7 O ,t o f i n i s h t h e w o r k b e g u n t h e p r e v i o u ss u m m e r - t h e l a s e r sh a d s t i l l t o b e t e s t e d i n o p e r a t i o n w i t h
the small mirrors, and the optical system completed.
D u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d h e w o r k e d i n t e n s e l yw i t h L a u r e n c e
H u b b y , a n d a g a i n L a n s d o n a s s i s t e dh i m s i g n i fi c a n t l y .
B e c a u s eK r e b s w a s t o a c c o m p l i s ht h e i n s t a l l a t i o n h i m self, without the assistanceof the Hewlett-Packard
scientistswho had developed the work, he had to be
taught to assembleand operate the optical system. Krebs
wrote,
J o h n L a z i e r , t h e H e w l e t t - P a c k a r de l e c t r o n i c t e c h n i c i a n w h o d e s i g n e dt h e e l e c t r o n i c s h u t t e r i n g s y s t e m
and the program which could control the rate of
c h a n g ea n d c o n f i g u r a t i o n a n d c o l o r c h a n g e ,h a d
w o r k e d o u t a n u m b e r o f v a r i a b l ep r o g r a m p o s s i b i li t i e s . H e a n d I d i s c u s s e dt h e s e a t l e n g t h , h e t r y i n g t o
v i s u a l i z ew h a t t h e v a r i o u s p r o g r a m p o s s i b i l i t i e sm i g h t
look like. I decidedfor the most apparently random
p r o g r a m . T h e l i m i t a t i o n s w e r e : t h r e e p o s i t i o n s , 'A ,'
'8 , ' a n d 'C 'w h i c h c o u l d r e s u l t i n t h r e e s e p a r a t el i g h t
c o n f i g u r a t i o n sa n d t w o b a s i c c o l o r s . I w a n t e d t h e
r a t e s ,c o l o r , a n d p o s i t i o n c h a n g e si n d e p e n d e n t o f on e
a n o t h e r . We w e r e t o l d t h e a v e r a g ev i e w e r w o u l d
s p e n d r o u g h l y t h r e e m i n u t e s i n t h e s p a c e ,s o t h e
p o s s i b i l i t y o f t h e p i e c e c o m p l e t i n g i t s c y c l e - r u n n i ng
through all three positionsand the final 3O-second
rapid stage-had to be worked out with this threeminute time factor in mind. The more we discussed
it, the more I began to see how important the rate of
c o l o r c h a n g ea n d t h e r a t e o f r e - p o s i t i o n i n gw o u l d b e
t o t h e f i n a l p i e c e . A n d w i t h o u t a c t u a l l y e x p e r i e n ci n g
it in the space I was reluctant to settle for a basic
programwhich I could not alter. John Lazierwas
s y m p a t h e t i c a n d s p e n t c o n s i d e r a b l ee x t r a t i m e
d e s i g n i n gi n t o t h e s y s t e m a c o n t r o l m e c h a n i s mw h i ch
would allow me to alter the rate of the cycle to fit
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t he situ atio n. Also, t o f ac ilit at e m ak ing t he piec e ,a
switch was p ut in s o I c ould leav eit on at any desig ne dpo int in th e c y c le.
The last night I was in Palo Alto, Lansdon, Hubby,
a n d I were up in to t he wee hour s s et t ing t he ar go n
lasera nd its op tic al s y s t em up t o t es t it . W e ac t ua l l y
m ou nte d severa ls m all m ir r or m ount s and put up a
t est co nfig ura tion . Ev er y t hing wor k ed beaut ifully
exce pt th e collim at ing t eles c opes .I f elt t hat v is ua l l y
t he b ea m's inte ns it y was t oo weak bec aus eof t he
b e am d iame ter. I as k ed Lar r y Hubby t o r edes ignt h e
te lesco pea nd red uc e t he beam diam et er t o one- h a l f
in ch , wh ich he did .
O n Ja nu ary 24 , Kreb s ar r iv ed in O s ak at o begin t he s i x
w eek job o f in sta llat ion. The s pac ein t he New Ar t s a r e a
allotted for the work measuredtwenty-three feet by
f orty-six fe et; it was a par allelogr am - s haped
r oom .
B esideit th ere wa s a s epar at e,walled of f ut ilit y r oom
w ith in wh ich the la s erappar at uswas t o be m ount ed ; t h e
large mirrors were pl ac ed f ac e t o f ac e in t he c ent er o f
the ro om. [5] Kreb s ac c om plis hednear ly all of t he
imm e nsely comp lica t ed ins t allat ion him s elf. He m ov e d
int o a sche du lewh er eby he would wor k at night , alo n e ;
it w as e asierf or him t o f unc t ion undis t ur bed by t he
w orkme n in a dja ce nt ar eas .
T he work is d iff icu lt t o des c r ibe,but in as s es s ing
t he
art ist's in ten tion s for it . and t he im por t ant is s ueof i t s
specia ln atu re a s a collabor at iv epr ojec t , s om e at t em p t a t
descrip tion is n eces s ar y
Two kinds of laser light were used. The argon laser
produced most of the light, and becauseits powerful
light gre en an d blu e beam sc ould be c ont r olled by t h e
optical syste m (in co njunc t ion wit h t he s m all "beam
joint" mirrors, to di s per s et he beam s ) [ 6, 7] , t o f las h o n
and off, or change color, it was used to generatethe
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1 73
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complicated configurations of continually changing light
s t r u c t u r e s .T h e r e d b e a m se m a n a t i n gf r o m t h e sm a l l e r
h e l i u m n e o n l a s e r sf o r m e d a s t a t i c c o n f i g u r a t i o n se e n
r e f l e c t e d " t o i n f i n i t y " i n t h e t w o p a r a l l e l m i r r o r s.
T h e a r g o n b e a m sw e r e s t r u c t u r e d i n t h r e e b a s i cse cti o n s.
O r i g i n a t i n g a t e a c h e n d o f t h e r o o m , a n d t r a v er si n gi t
length-wise,were "fans" of light. At one end, "joints" of
l i g h t o r i g i n a t i n g f r o m a s i n g l e b e a m ( s e c t i o n sof b e a m s
reflected between small mirrors) traversedthe area in a
p a r a l l e l o g r a mw h i c h h u n g h o r i z o n t a l l y , a t a d ista n ceo f
s e v e na n d o n e - h a l f t o e i g h t f e e t a b o v e t h e f l o or . At th e
o t h e r e n d , a b e a m w a s p o s i t i o n e d v e r t i c a l l y , up th e w a l l ,
f r o m e i g h t t o t w e l v e f e e t a b o v e f l o o r l e v e l . T hi s b e a m
w o u l d t h e n f a n o u t i n a v e r t i c a l l i n e a n d t w i s t i n to a
h o r i z o n t a l c o n f i g u r a t i o n . T h e n t h i s e n t i r e s y ste m w o u l d
b e r e v e r s e d ,a n d t h e s a m e t h i n g w o u l d o c c u r a t th e
o p p o s i t e e n d o f t h e r o o m . T h e c o n f i g u r a t i o n so f l i g h t
w e r e p r o g r a m m e d t o r u n t h r o u g h a r e p e t i t i v e cycl e ; th e y
w o u l d p o p b a c k a n d f o r t h , o r s e e m t o s w i n g ; ju st a s th e
spectator began to apprehend the pattern from one
p o i n t o f v i e w , i t w o u l d s u d d e n l y b e g i n t o e n t er a "d i a logue" phase,popping back and forth acrossthe space.
T h e c y c l e w a s d e t e r m i n e d a t s e v e nm i n u t e s , b a se do n th e
a n t i c i p a t e d r a t e o f t r a f f i c f l o w t h r o u g h K r e b s' r o o m .
The third argon beam was positioned vertically in the
c e n t e r o f t h e s p a c e ,r u n n i n g d o w n t h e c e n t e r o f th e
m i r r o r s . T h i s g e n e r a t e da k i n d o f " w a l l , " b u t w o r ke d
i n t o t h e s w e e p o f t h e b e a m a c t i v i t y o r i g i n a t i n g fr o m
each end of the room. The center beam worked in
various combinations with the peripheral argon struct u r e s . R e f l e c t e di n t h e i n f i n i t y r e f l e c t i o n s y s t e m i t
m o v e d i n a n d o u t a n d c h a n g e ds h a p e i n r e l a t i o n to th e
" a r m a t u r e " o f t h e r e d ( h e l i u m n e o n ) , s t a t i c b ea m
network.
The apparent depth perceivedas one stood between the
parallel mirrors was calculated by Krebs to be about ten
t i m e s t h a t o f t h e a c t u a l d i s t a n c e b e t w e e n t h e m ( a b o u t)
e i g h t e e nf e e t ) . T h u s a s o n e w a l k e d t h r o u g h t h e a r e a , h e
entered a passagewaybetween the mirrors which was
174
actually narrower than the rest of the room, but seemed
to ope n ou t sud de nl y int o a gr eat ex pans e.
W hen th is d escrip tion of t he wor k had been wr it t en, i t
was shown to Krebs in the hope that he could add to, or
clarify it. Kre bs felt t hat it was not t ot ally ac c ur at e,a n d
submitted th ree d raw ingswhic h he hoped would m ak e
the stru ctu re more ea s ily v is ualiz ablet o us . [ 8]
ln relation to Krebs' past work with lasers,this piece
representsa significant departure chiefly by virtue of the
progra mming syste m , whic h he c ould not hav e dev el oped without the assistanceof specialists.The artist had
for some time wanted to find a way to weaken the
psychologicalpersistencewith which laser beams are
perceivedas apparently real matter. He felt that by
makin g the b ea mste m por ar ily dis appear ,and t hen
reapp ea r,o r b y re po s it ioningt he light f r om one s our c e
into a seriesof varying configurations, he might succeed
in achie vin ga sen seof t he light in it s t r ue c har ac t er - a s
simp ly lig ht. Th e a bi lit y of las erlight t o s ugges ts pati a l
delinea tion .a nd to c onv ey bot h t he t r ans ienc y and
relativen esso f th is p r oc es s ,is r ealiz ed,Kr ebs f ound, o n l y
when clu es are g ive n t o c ount er t he s t r ongly illus ion i s t i c
felt presenceof a laserbeam projected uninterruptedly.
T he clue swere pro vi ded by t he pr ogr am m ing s y s t em .
D iscu ssinghis in ten tions f or t he Ex po piec e, Kr ebs
wrote,
T he ligh t be am would f ill t he r oom wit h one c onfi g uration and then another-versus 'to flash on and
off' . . . . you just have the senseof something that's
in on e p lace an d t hen it ' s in anot her . As y ou not ic e d .
t he b ea ms of la se rlight hav e v is ually a t angible
pr esen ce .But I a m not dealing wit h m at er ial in t h e
same manner the sculptor has in the past. Convent io na lly a sculp tur e is a c onf igur at ion of m as st ha t
on e see sb ecau sei t is illum inat ed by s om e light
source. I reversedthis proposition. I put incidental
matter into the atmosphere (or use what is already
present) and project light through it. The path the
ligh t b ea mstake as t hey pas st hr ough inc ident al
ma tter in th e a tmos pher eis t he s c ulpt ur e. lt is a p i e c e
of sculp ture th at o ne c ould phy s ic ally m ov e t hr ou g h .
B u t, it is ligh t (lthink Newt on c alled it ' a unique
form of matter') and it has unique capabilities.In the
conf iguration that resulted from positions 'A' or 'C'
there was never any senseof the structure as a kinetic
th ing -of th e ligh t m ov ing f r om one point t o anoth e r .
Rath er it wa s simply t her e in a s pac et hat had pr e v i ously either been empty or occupied by a different
structure.
So these are some things that I am able to do with my
medium that I could not do with another. There are
other possibilities.This piece was not an attempt to
de mon stra te a ll th e unique pr oper t iesof light in
generalor l aserl i ght i n parti cul ar.l t w asan attempt
to real i zea parti cul arw ork of art w hi ch di d of cour se
usesomeof theseproperties.
The visualpresence
of the laserlight can be sufficientl y convi nci ng
that oneforgetsw i th hi s eyesand
ul ti matel yw i th hi s mi nd the real i tyof w hat he sees.
is then a self-conscious
The ideaof reconfiguration
attemptto ti ckl eboth hi s mi nd and eyes.
Rockneplansto expandthe basisfor the Expo piece
somew hati n doi nga w ork for the Museumexhi bi ti on;
therew i l l probabl ybe a greaterprofusi onof l i ght beams
from the argonlasers.and possiblythe additionof one
or tw o hel i umneonl asers.
W eare pl anni ngasw el l to
arrangefor the artistto set up an outdoor work, using
one or more powerfulargonlasers,
shootingbeamsout
overthe city of Los Angelesfrom the Museum.
JaneLi vi ngst on
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