Hologram Show Hit by Thieves Again

For the second time in a week, thieves broke into a Santa Monica exhibit of holograms on Sunday, ripping 17 of the art pieces from walls or cutting the wires that attached them to the ceiling.

“I just don’t know what to do,” said J. William McGowan, chairman of the board of Associates of Science and Technology, coordinator of the “Images in Time and Space” exhibit. “I’m past the point of being able to speak coherently.”

Santa Monica police said there was no sign of forced entry. McGowan speculated that it was an “inside job” by someone with a key to the exhibit building.

He said the 17 pieces taken Sunday were valued at about $40,000. The thieves skipped the most valuable pieces and took popular works, among them holograms of a telescope and a microscope that viewers could look into and see objects.