Early on Monday morning, a group of artists erected a monument to N.S.A. whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park. The 100-pound statue was promptly shrouded and removed by authorities, but that only inspired another group of artists to fill the void with a hologram.

The hologram Snowden didn’t last long either, but that was by design. The artists told The New York Times that the hologram was projected on a cloud of ash, which caught the light from their projector.

All told, there does not seem to be any risk of serious damage to the pre-existing monument. The artists who placed the original 100-pound, plaster-like bust told Animal New York that they used an adhesive that would allow the statue to be removed without permanent damage to the pillar it rested upon.

That pillar, part of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, was dedicated to the memory of American prisoners of war who were killed in the Revolutionary War. The artists see Snowden as a continuation of a similar liberty movement, though they admit Snowden himself probably wouldn’t approve of the focus on the individual whistle-blower.

While the original artists, who created and installed the 100-pound plaster-like sculpture of Snowden, endeavored to keep their identities anonymous, a group called the Illuminator took credit for the hologram. A number of its members spoke with the Times, presumably using their real names.