FINDING IT: "Light Rain" is located in the atrium inside Engineering Hall.

If you stand in one place to gaze at this installation, you may miss a magical two-dimensional rainbow-colored show of light and texture. Dutch-born artist Rudie Berkhout designed the 30-inch-by-30-inch holographic plates, which tumble helter-skelter down the wall, to evoke energy and motion—light dancing, as he once said.

Holograms are three-dimensional images reproduced in two dimensions from a pattern of interference produced by a split beam of radiation. Berkhout composes his creations using lasers, lenses, cameras, fiber optics and a darkroom similar to that a photographer would use to process black-and-white film.

Once a stage lighting technician and later a fashion designer, he began creating holograms as art in 1975. Since then, Berkhout, who now lives in New York, has placed exhibits and commissions throughout the world. This playful work is his first permanent installation in a public building.

Commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Board under the state’s Percent for Art program. Installed in fall 1992.

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