Flavorwire: The late Whitney Houston will be greeting her fans as she takes the stage once more. Yep, it’s another hologram. The new concert will be created by Hologram USA in collaboration with Pat Houston, the performer’s sister, who is also the head of her estate. You can see the recreation of the beloved powerhouse vocalist on a world tour in 2016, but the show will also air on cable and VOD, according to Rolling Stone.
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The implications of this technology on the future of theatre is something that significantly more people ought to be talking about. Live-streaming theatre is never close to the real experience, nor should it be, because the nature of theatre is human beings in the room together. However, last Spring I wrote a final paper for a course on technology about its implementation into the arts, and one of the possibilities for making it widespread, accessible, and still ultimately a human experience, is direct holograms being displaced from one stage to another. As the technology increases, the differences will become more and more minute, and the audience perspective based on seat location will also be maintained. While there will never be a substitute for the real performance, this would be the greatest form of widespread theatre that we have yet to encounter. The idea of using it for dead musical artists to continue to perform is something that sounds unethical. However, there is something profoundly exciting about using this medium to preserve the art of the artists long after they have passed away. To think of the opportunity to see some of the greatest artists of the last hundred years be maintained is something that I cannot help but find exciting. However, as this becomes more popular, regulation to respect the artists' wishes before dying is definitely a necessary institution for the use of this technology.
Really? Am I the only one to think of this? The OBVIOUS use of this technology is instead of having all these multiple hologram concerts (which the Gorillaz have been doing long before Tupac, by the way) is to combine every single beloved artist into one huge tour. Have you ever wanted to see Michael Jackson sing backup to Tupac? Probably not, but wouldn't that be a crazy show?
In all seriousness, this technology is amazing. While I see strong potential for it to become very gimmicky, if used properly, this could open up a new, separate type of performance.
I do not totally understand why hologram tours are so controversial, especially when there are real life performers that are also famous. I don’t know if the tickets should be costing as much to hear a pre recorded track that they could just watch on youtube, but I would still be interested in seeing this Houston. I cannot imagine being the sister and having a team of people making holograms of my dead relative to continue performing and make me a ton more money. That must be a bit weird, especially if she ends up seeing it close up, talk about a trippy experience. I honestly believe, and so do many others, that Whitney Houston had such an amazing voice, reanimating her should not be so controversial. Her legacy should go on and younger people who were not around for the full impact of Houston’s music should still know who she was.
Call me crazy, but I just don’t think I would be entertained by seeing a hologram perform onstage for an entire concert. Although holographic technology sounds like a wild and crazy thing with lots of potential for the entertainment industry, I don’t think the quality is there yet. Albeit, I get images of grainy transported humans ala Star Wars flashing through my head, the images from Hologram USA appear to be of pretty high quality. However, after a quick look at one of the promotional hologram videos on the Hologram USA website, I was not impressed. There’s a video from a Jimmy Kimmel segment where he “transports” himself from Hollywood to Nashville. The hologram of Kimmel that appears in Nashville has a very high resolution, and looks similar to a an image on a TV Screen. I will admit how impressed I was with the image, but my excitement quickly waned as I never saw more than a flat TV image of Kimmel against a black background. There was no 3-D aspect to the hologram, and maybe this is a misconception on my end, but isn’t that part of the point of a hologram?
Personally, I don't understand the hologram performances. Obviously, it is an amazing technological feat and it is very cool. But, also, it seems like... overkill (excuse the term). In this, it almost seems unnecessary to me. Whitney's fans, still aren't really seeing her, or hearing her for that mattter. They are simply recordings. It calls to mind a hologram in Japan that is a huge popstar- Hatsune Miku. Her music is all electronic and people worship her. But, it is not real. There is no depth or reality to a performance by a projection. This differs from the band Gorillaz, who indeed have animations and holograms from the talented Damon Albarn, but that has become merely a side show to the performers who are still onstage and still there performing. These holograms seem phony and a little creepy to me.
“A great opportunity for her fans to see a reinvention of one the most celebrated female artists in history and to continue a legacy of performances that will not be forgotten in years to come.” Aside from the fact that I tear up every time "I will always love you" comes on the radio, the idea of hologram performances does bother me. There are so many alive artists in the world ready and willing to perform. Though it is an awesome spectacle, and a quite entertaining idea I feel that just like when machinery takes away jobs from factory workers, holograms take away from artists that have the ability to perform. Hologram work is a mind blowing idea that is technologically brilliant, however, the idea of watching a hologram perform seems unentertaining, and borderline creepy. Whitney was a great artist, however, it is okay to remember and listen to her music, while allowing other new artists to perform, and find the spotlight.
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