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Hologram Arts Group Bidding Farewell to Clock Tower With Exhibit and Bash

 The Center for Holographic Arts will move from the Clock Tower building in Long Island City this month, going out with a special farewell exhibit and party on April 11 before hunting for a new location.
The Center for Holographic Arts will move from the Clock Tower building in Long Island City this month, going out with a special farewell exhibit and party on April 11 before hunting for a new location.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS PLAZA — It's lights out for this art group's home.

The Center for Holographic Arts will leave its home at the Clock Tower building in Long Island City this month, going out with a special farewell exhibit and party on April 11 before hunting for a new location.

The arts group — which is dedicated to holography, or images created using light — moved into the lobby and vaults of the former bank building this past fall, subletting the space for free from owner Andover Realty through the nonprofit No Longer Empty.

"Long Island City has been such a a great community to be a part of," said Jonah Levy, project director for the organization.

He said the group was told last month they would need to vacate the space by April 14 because the iconic building was being sold, though a rep for Andover Realty denies that a sale is in place.

"These are rumors at this point," Andover's Steven Zang said Wednesday. "I have no information on a sale at this time."

The building, at 29-27 41st Ave., had once housed the Bank of Manhattan but was recently vacant until No Longer Empty converted the space to host a temporary art installation in 2012.

The Holocenter, which formed in 1998, was previously using space at the headquarters of Long Island City arts collective Flux Factory after losing their previous Court Square location in 2009.

Levy said that while the group is disappointed that they need to move, he knew the donated space at the Clock Tower was a temporary opportunity.

"I was a little crestfallen, but we knew that this was coming at any point," he said. "It's kind of just the nature of being in the arts."

He said the nonprofit group is currently looking for a new space, and has been exploring possible options in nearby Astoria or other parts of the city.

"We're talking with a number of people, there's a couple of possibilities," Levy said.

In the meantime, visitors can catch the final showing of the Holocenter's most recent exhibit "Uncertain Worlds," this Friday and Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m.

The final exhibit and farewell bash will take place next Friday, April 11 and will feature holograms, projections, interactive installations as well as music, DJs, food and drinks. The festivities will start at 8 p.m., with admission a pay-what-you-wish donation.

Levy said the group's time at the Clock Tower has allowed them to build a good amount of buzz for their work and exhibits, which were dubbed "Best Mind-Trip," by New York magazine in its annual "Best of New York," issue this year.

"Knowing all that we built at the Clock Tower building is still going to stay with us is encouraging," Levy said.