Jung's first academic post was a guest professorship in 1975 at Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil. In 1977 he realized his initial holograms "Feathers" at the New York School of Holography (conducted by Sam Moree and Dan Schweitzer). He developed 1977 in collaboration with Donald White from Bell Laboratories in his garage in New Jersey the technical requirements for the first holographic poem, "Hologramm". From 1982 until 1985 he explored with Jody Burns (Holoplate, New Jersey) the efficiency of One-step Rainbow Holography. He created the series "Into the Rainbow", "Present Space" and "Different Space".
1990/91 Jung acted as a member of the founding council at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne where he served as a professor for creative holography and light art until 2007. From 1992 to 1996 he was a member of the board of trustees of the Center for Art and Media/ZKM in Karlsruhe. In 1996 he directed the international conference and exhibition "Holographic Network: A Visual Journey between Art, Science and Technology" at the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
In 1997–99 he served as a member of the MIT Advisory Council on Art-Science-Technology. The development of Holokinetic Mobiles, HoloMobiles XYZ and TransOptical (Transformation optics) Mobiles is since 1998 one of his fields of activities, as well as the development of Floor Holograms and the research into interactive laser installations since 2002. Oraculum; Light installations: "Strings", "Light in Flight" and "Loops", holographic "TimeCapsules". Since 2010 member of the academic board of advisors of ZERO foundation in Düsseldorf. 2011 member of the International György Kepes Society in Hungary. Since 1970 Jung participated in numerous lectures, workshops and exhibitions throughout the world.
The development of Holokinetic Sculptures "Perpetuum Mobile", HoloMobiles XYZ and TransOptical Mobiles, animated by the kinetic sculptures of Alexander Calder and George Ricky, became since 1998 extended fields of his involvement. After the elaboration of Floor Holograms and interactive Laser installations ("Oraculum – for two lasers and three canvases") he continued creating a variety of Light-works "Strings", "LightFlight", "Loops", holographic "Time Capsules" and the "Particle wave" prints, hence revealing and extending a different perception of motion in space, light and colours.
In 2010 he became a member of the academic board of advisors (now think tank) of ZERO foundation in Düsseldorf, and in 2011 he joined the International György Kepes Society in Hungary. Since 1970 Jung has participated in numerous conferences, workshops and exhibitions throughout the world.
Dieter Jung is one of the pioneers in holographic art. This art, apart from being a form of optical illusion, constitutes a specific phase in the history of Light Art. Illusionist tendencies exist in art since the earliest times and were at certain periods even considered as forming an integral part of Western art. As to the luminous phenomenon with its curious ambiguity between presence and absence it is at the heart of all holographic art and can be compared to our perception of the stars whose physical presence has been superseded by the luminous wave which reaches our eye long after having been emitted. The aesthetics of absence has been the privilege of the mystics of all times, but its metaphysical side is counterbalanced by its scientific connotation in the area of holographic art.
"One of the pioneers in holographic art" (excerpt) written by Frank Popper, Paris 2008 for the exhibition "Invisible-Visible" of Dieter Jung, Today Art Museum Beijing—full text
Dieter Jung, BIBI BEI BOB, 1987, Hologram/Glass, 112x140cm. Horizontal symmetric text by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
1984 Holography in Art, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong; Pinturas – Desenhos – Hologramas, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil.
1985 Dieter Jung – Hologrammeja/Piirroksksia/Maalauksia, Näyettey Kluuvin Galleria, Helsinki, Finland; Dieter Jung, Musée de Québec, Quebec City, Canada; Art Basel; Museum of Holography, New York; Dieter Jung-Installation, Museum of Holography, New York, N.Y., USA
2003 Kun Shan University, Tainan, Taiwan POC; Dieter Jung – Anders als man denkt, Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg, Germany; Kunst-Museum in Ahlen, Germany; Kunstmuseum Heidenheim, Heidenheim, Germany; Dieter Jung, Virtual Images, Kun Shan University, Tainan, Taiwan
2004 Dieter Jung, Hologram Works-The extended Space to Dénes Gábor, Ateliers Pro Arte, Budapest, Hungary
2005 Shantou University, Guangdong, China; Dieter Jung, The Garden of Light, Taipei Fine Arts Museum Taipei POC
1999: Natura della luce, Galleria d'Arte Contemporaneo, Venice, Italy; Farblicht, Städtische Galerie Würzburg and Kunstmuseum Heidenheim, Germany; Malerei, Galerie Neher, Essen, Germany; Lumia, International Lyskunst, Charlottenborg Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark; Kangastus Mirage, Rauman Taidemuseo, 9.10-5.12.1999, Finland
2000: Manege, St. Petersburg, Russia; Kangastus Mirage, Verutitalli-Salon kaupungin taidemuseo, 14.1-12.3.2000; Kemin taidemuseo, 16.6.-20.8.2000; Kajaanin teidemuseo, 3.9-29.10.2000, Finland; Machines Times, V2, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2001: SkyArt Conference, Delphi and Ikaria, Greece; College of Fine Arts, Paddington, Sydney, Australia
2005: Two Asias-Two Europes, Doland Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China; Enseigner /Produire: Exposition Enquête, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2006: Museum of Contemporary Art /ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; Entry Gate, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China; Motion in a Square, Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch, Germany
2007: Remote Control, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, China
2009: Museo Alejandro von Humboldt, Havana, Cuba; Animamix, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010: Animamix, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China; Luminous Windows, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA, USA; The Year We Make Contact, Media Scape, HDLU Croatian Association of Artists, Zagreb, Croatia
2011: Future Pass, 54th Biennale di Venezia, Abbazia di San Gregorio, Venice, Italy
“Transcript“ in Artists Today, Marg Publications, Bombay 1987; “Holographic Space“ in Leonardo (journal), vol. 22, no 3/4,1989; Jung / Pepper “Creative Holography: Its Development in the Academy of Media Arts Cologne“ in SPIE Proceedings, vol. 1600,1991; “Bildräume der Holographie“ in Kultur und Technik im 21. Jahrhundert, edited by G. Kaiser, Frankfurt and New York 1993; “L´Espace Holographique“ in La science et la métamorphose des arts, Nouvelle Encyclopédie Diderot, Paris 1994; “Luz na Arte / Arte da Luz“ in exhibition catalogue, Goethe-Institut Salvador, Brazil1995; “Ein Kubikmeter Licht“ in Otto Piene, Kunst die fliegt, edited by H. Stachelhaus, DuMont Schauberg Köln 1998; “Holes in Sky“ in Sky Art, edited by Kracke/Knott, Center for Advanced Visual Studies and MIT, Cambridge 2005. “As I see it - The absence of darkness”, Advances in Display Holography, edited by Hans Bjelkhagen, River Valley Press, England 2006. Otto Piene, by Ante Glibota, Delight Edition, 2011. ISBN 978-988-19-5322-3. The Transfer of Technology, Interview in ArtToday, Vol.12, Beijing 2009. The Perceptual Holograms of Dieter Jung, by Jeno Lu in Zhai Bao Rong Contemporary Art (Vol.6), Singapore/Beijing 2010.
On Dieter Jung
Books
Experiment Design by Igildo Biesele, Zürich 1986; Holographie by Peter Zec, DuMont Köln 1987; Dieter Jung – Hologrammes, Dessins, Peintures by Ante Glibota, Paris Art Center, Paris 1989; Dieter Jung – Bilder, Zeichnungen, Hologramme, Köln 1991; Art in the electronic Age by Frank Popper, London and Paris1993; Dieter Jung-Anders als man denkt by Marianne Lauter, Würzburg 2003; Dieter Jung -The Garden of Light by Fang-Wei Chang, Taipei 2005. Dieter Jung- The Passion of Light, by Chen Qibin, Shanghai 2006. Two Asias-Two Europes, by Gu Zhenqing, Timezone 8, Shanghai; LightArt from Artificial Light by Peter Weibel/Jansen, ZKM Publications: Entry Gate. Chinese Aesthetics of Heterogeneity by Samuel Kung, MoCA Shanghai; Dieter Jung- The Passion of Light, by Chen Qibin, Zendai Museum of Modern Art Shanghai; Motion in Square, by Museum Ritter/ Gerda Ridler, Heidelberg. Remote/Control by Samuel Kung, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai 2007; Dieter Jung-Looking Foreword by S. Zhao, Beijing 2007. Dieter Jung – Phases/Faces by Oroom Gallery, Seoul 2008; Dieter Jung, Invisible/Visible by Dai Dongmei / Chen Aier, Beijing 2008; Dieter Jung, Flying Colors-Moments of Seeing, OCT Gallery, Shenzhen 2010. The Perceptual Holograms of Dieter Jung, by Jeno Lu in Zhai Bao Rong Contemporary Art (Vol.6), Beijing 2010.