The great success of the World Exhibition of Art Holograms in Minsk (Republic of Belarus) made it possible to organize the continuation of this international project in Astana (Republic of Kazakhstan). The 2nd World Exhibition “Holography 2012” was held from October 5 to December 18, 2012. This country is almost unfamiliar with art holography. Belarus and Kazakhstan are members of the Customs Union, which simplifies cooperation between them. The venue was the Schoolchildren’s Palace — a grand educational and sports complex.
The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the highest authorities of Kazakhstan, ambassadors of foreign states and dozens of reporters. During the opening ceremony, the welcome speech of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan was read. On November 9 the exhibition was visited by the Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich.
The exhibition in Astana included over 170 holograms from 20 countries, representing majority of the existing holographic technologies. About a third of the exhibits were presented by JSC “Light Magic”. Also, visitors to the exhibition could see six digital holograms of iconic monuments and buildings of Astana; these holograms were created specifically for the exhibition within the framework of the Belarusian-Lithuanian cooperation. The exhibition was also attended by Russian and Ukrainian monochrome holograms, color holograms, pseudo-color holograms, multiplex stereograms, and digital holograms from “Geola uab” (Lithuania).
The International Seminar “50 Years of Optical Holography” dedicated to the memory of Yuri Denisyuk, attended by the best Kazakhstani scientists and students, was coincide with the opening of the exhibition. 15 reports were read on various topics in the field of holography, including reports by Leonid Tanin (Belarus), Valery Vanin (Russia), Mikhail Shevtsov (Russia).
The organizers of the exhibition from the Belarusian side were: JSC “Light Magic” and JSC “HOLOGRAPHY INDUSTRY”. The chairman of the organizing committee of the exhibition was professor Leonid Tanin, from the Kazakh side the organizers were the state-owned enterprises “Astana Innovations” and “Parasat”. The exhibition was held with the support of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Akimat of Astana and several government departments of Kazakhstan.
