Read the photograph carefully
David Berkowitz’s photograph records a Displair demonstration at CES 2013. A visitor interacts with an image carried by a fog display. It is a useful historical example of a projected image using a particle medium. It is not evidence that the pictured product can be ordered today or that its appearance will be reproduced in another room.
The word “screenless” can make the medium easy to miss. Light needs something that directs or scatters it toward the viewer. With a fog screen, the distribution of droplets is part of that process. The apparent absence of a solid panel does not mean the installation has no physical conditions.
Airflow is a design input
For a prospective installation, ask how the particle sheet is produced, how it is maintained and what conditions disturb it. The room’s airflow, nearby doors and the audience’s movement should be represented in a demonstration. Request operating requirements from the actual supplier rather than applying assumptions from a historical photo.
Consider what a visitor is meant to do: pass through, reach toward the image or watch from a designated area. Each action changes the installation brief. Ask how the image behaves during that action, what happens to the surrounding environment and which routine tasks the operator performs.
Prototype the room interaction
Bring a short content sequence with a recognizable silhouette and a simple caption. Look for the point at which the subject becomes legible and the distance at which detail disappears. If interaction is part of the promise, test the sensor and display together; a photograph of a person reaching toward an image cannot establish tracking accuracy.
Document the room, test content, viewing angle and observed result. Treat softness, transience and the visible medium as possible creative qualities rather than assuming the goal must be a perfectly solid object. A fog display can serve a very different mood and audience ritual from a rigid cabinet, which is exactly why the mechanism deserves a clear name.
Sources & dates
Factual descriptions are drawn from these sources. Practical evaluation suggestions and interpretations are Presence Atlas editorial analysis; no hands-on test is claimed. Supplier claims are identified as such.
David Berkowitz / Wikimedia Commons · Original publication: undated · Retrieved 16 September 2026
Editorial preparation: 16 September 2026. Actual site publication: pending review.