Two Immersive Installations by Douglas Repetto to Fill the First Floor Gallery of UB Art Gallery

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus will present two large-scale installations by New York City-based artist Douglas Repetto to open with a public reception at 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. An exhibition walkthrough with the artist will begin at 5 p.m.

UB Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursday until 7 p.m.. For information, please call 716-645-6912. The installation, which is free and open to the public, will be on view through May 17.

Douglas Repetto's two installations in the first floor gallery revel in madcap interactivity and DIY technologies. action at a distance is a bewitching tangle of motors and pulleys, zigzags of rope, an otter theater, jangling bells, fireflies, switches, breath activators and rough steel. Small gestures made by visitors are amplified and transmitted via motors and rope, repurposed as the drivers of small dramas tucked into corners and nooks. everything, all at once is a sudden condensation of sound and reflections: a dense net of hundreds of bells, mirrors, motors, lights and vibrations that envelop the viewer. These immersive performance and listening experiences attest to how the visual arts are being revolutionized by new technologies such as sensors and interactive performance systems.

Repetto is an artist and teacher whose varied interests exemplify the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary art production today. His work, which includes sculpture, installation, performance, recordings and software, is presented internationally. He is the founder of a number of art/community-oriented groups including dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity, ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show, organism: making art with living systems, and the music-dsp mailing list and Web site. Repetto is director of research at the Columbia University Computer Music Center and lives in New York City.

        The UB Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus just north of the I-290 on Millersport Highway. Traveling east or west on the I-290 take exit 5B to Millersport Highway North. Turn onto the campus at the Coventry entrance. As you enter the campus, the Center for the Arts is a high gabled white building directly ahead of you.

          After 3 p.m. and on weekends, parking is free and a permit is not required. During all other times, guests must park in metered spaces, visitor parking lots or obtain a parking permit from UB Art Gallery staff. In order to obtain a parking permit, temporarily park in the circle in front of the Center for the Arts and see a gallery attendant inside.

The UB Art Gallery is funded by the UB College of Arts Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund and the Fine Arts Center Endowment.