By Connie Blaszczyk

Imagine walking into a darkened room. As your eyes adjust, a figure, floating in space, beckons. You get closer. The story begins.

Welcome to Volumetric Cinema, and the entrancing visualization of 360-degree 3D holographic cinema.

The project began last January in an IAP class led by V. Michael Bove, Principal Research Scientist and head of the Object-Based Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, and David Levine, Professor of the Practice of Performance, Theater, and Media at Harvard University. The research-driven exploration continues through 2019, culminating with the debut of a film produced on the Voxon VX1, a cutting-edge 3D volumetric display.

Bove and Levine are co-recipients of an MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology 2018 Mellon Faculty Grant. Working in close collaboration with students from MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley, they’re testing the limits of a new technology that pays homage to pre-digital cinema.   

We spoke with Levine and Bove about Volumetric Cinema in the MIT Media Lab.