Best of New York 2014 • Fun

• The Center for the Holographic Arts

  The Clock Tower, 29-27 41st Ave., nr. Northern Blvd., Long Island City; no phone

  Ready to have your mind blown? Most things you think are holograms aren’t. Tupac’s “performance” with Snoop and Dre at Coachella in 2012? Not actually a hologram. What you’re seeing is a bunch of CGI smoke and mirrors. Real-deal holography involves lasers and light and interference and diffraction. It’s a science as much as an art, and one held in the utmost regard at the not-for-profit Holocenter, founded 15 years ago by a duo of holographic artists. (They re­located last fall to the lobby and vault of LIC’s Clock Tower.) For the hologram connoisseur, there are exhibits, an artist-in-residence program, and a deep historical archive. For the rest of us, it’s all wacky colors, swirly lights, and Instagram opps.

From the 2014 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine