Media Study Exhibition Explores Time, Death, Memory, Change

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "CollisionsCollusions," a two-part exhibition of film, performance, video, experimental music and networked actions produced by 11 graduate students in the University at Buffalo Department of Media Study, will be held at Big Orbit Gallery, 30D Essex St., in Buffalo Nov. 9-11 and Nov. 16-18.

The exhibited work, all time-based, was produced in the graduate course "Installation (Temporalities)," taught by Caroline Koebel, assistant professor of media study at UB.

Student work produced in this course traditionally has been exhibited in the greater Buffalo area at such sites as the Mead Branch Library in Buffalo's Lovejoy District, on the 25th floor of Buffalo's City Hall and at Babeville on Delaware Avenue.

Opening receptions for the show will take place at Big Orbit from 7-10 p.m. on Nov. 9 and 16, and performances will take place on both nights at 9 p.m. Gallery hours on remaining exhibition days are noon to 5 p.m.

Part I of the exhibition (Nov. 9-11) will feature two works.

The first, "Horseman," by Tatiana A. Koroleva (professional name TaTiana Koroleva) and Maria "Masha" Sharafudinova. (professional name Masha_sha), investigates the construction and deconstruction of identities within the limited space and time offered by video projection. In the installation three characters will be split into sections distributed over three different projections. As the videos progress, sections of each character move between projections to combine and form new identities.

"Works in Translation" by G. Douglas Barrett, Francesco Gagliardi and Lindsey L. Lodhie brings together works in film and video, as well as live performances that engage the notion of translation. In these pieces, says Gagliardi, "translation" is "rediscovered" in its original Latin meaning -- transducere: "to carry across" and recast as a crossing from one medium to another, one form to another, one place to another.

Part II of "Collisions/Collusions" (Nov. 16-18) will features six works.

The first, "another project about the degeneration of human memory" by Justin Chouinard (professional name justin chouinard), is a real-time performance in which the artist will manipulate 16mm films he has taken of his children to gradually erase the images until they disappear.

"Obsex Series I" by Gautam Malik is a video installation documenting interactions between people and the programmed responses they have to everyday city life.

"Southern Hospitality" by Lisa Jane Davis explores regional stereotyping and the cultural identity of the people of Southern Appalachia. The installation includes a faux-dining room, a "mockumentary," projected images and a full buffet featuring regional cuisine.

"Dark Rifts: Mining Mulvey, Time, Magic, Death and Reprising Eternity's Framing" by Camille P. Garcia employs a three-screen projection to examine original and appropriated still and moving images evoked by a close reading of "Death 24x a Second" by film theorist, Laura Mulvey. This elegant and melancholic book investigates cinematic incarnations of time, stillness, movement and death.

In her performance installation "Give it Up," Jessica Thompson will explore the hyper-socialized space of Web-based performance through an open-source model of participation. On opening night the artist will facilitate a live "breakdance battle" between participants in two geographically distinct spaces who are linked through a live Web stream.

"Death of…" by Dietrich Olivier Delrieu-Schulze (professional name d'olivier delrieu-schulze) is a performance in which the artist will employ death and obsolete technologies as metaphoric tools to investigate the desire to declare closure.

In addition to the UB Media Study Department and Big Orbit, the exhibition is sponsored by the UB Graduate Student Association (GSA) and the GSAs of the Department of Media Study, the Department of Music and the Department of Comparative Literature.