Interactive installations created by Bernard Aaron Dolecki, the Frewsburg native now in pursuit of a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University at Buffalo, will be showcased in Dolecki’s new art exhibit “no-W-here,” which will open Friday at the Big Orbit Gallery — 30 Essex St., Buffalo — and run through the following week. Submitted photos

BUFFALO — Bernard Aaron Dolecki has never shied away from broadening his creative horizons through the usage of interactive art.

This weekend, the Frewsburg native now in pursuit of a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University at Buffalo will continue this trend with the premiere of his new exhibit “no-W-here,” which will open Friday at the Big Orbit Gallery — 30 Essex St., Buffalo — and run through the following week.

“no-W-here” is an exhibition of interactive installations where users can come together through technology in real, or “analog,” space rather than on virtual, or “digital,” interfaces. By questioning analog and digital identities through the interplay between analog and digital technologies, Dolecki will position users of the exhibit to question their transmediated selves; identities lived in the gap between the digital and the analog.

“Through several different installations I use hybrid-media, the use of old and new technologies, to expose this transmediated self,” Dolecki said of his exhibit. “My research questions our notions of being through analyzing societies’ interest in utilizing technology as extension of the body. Following (Marshall) McLuhan’s theory that ‘the medium is the message,’ I strive to expose the different underlying structures of varying technologies through interactive investigations. Allowing users to fragment then defragment their own visceral experiences is my ongoing focus.”

One such installation designed to illustrate these postulations is Dolecki’s “Simulated Sentience 2.0” in which users can interweave a digital representation of the their physical selves with others in the system. Old-school TVs are stacked up to form five monoliths that form different digital interfaces via the use analog sensors and cameras to harness real-world data to tailor different visuals while also synthesizing audio.

“This transforms spectators into active users to interact, deconstruct and leave real-time impressions of their own visceral experiences,” he said of the installation. “This work highlights the interplay of our transmediated selves, posing the question: How can technology be pulling us together while simultaneously driving us apart?”

Dolecki is also a graduate of Jamestown Community College and Alfred University. During his tenure at JCC he received Best in Show in the college’s student art exhibition while also obtaining his associate’s degree in 2010. His work was featured in the 2015 U.S. Solar Decathlon as well as several local Western New York galleries. He currently works at the University at Buffalo as an MFA candidate and is also an instructor in the Department of Art.

Friday’s opening reception for “no-W-here” will run from 8-11 p.m. Additional showtimes will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 5-10 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, through Friday, March 23; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25.

Additional information on the show can be found at cepagallery.org/portfolio/bernard-aaron-dolecki-no-w-here. For more information on Dolecki’s background and other creations, visit his professional website at bernardaarondolecki.com.