Peñarroyo Presents “alt+AR” in a Solo Exhibition at IRL Gallery in Cincinnati

Cyrus Peñarroyo, lecturer in architecture and Principal of OFF-OFF, and partner at EXTENTS has a solo exhibition opening on Friday, November 10 in Cincinnati, OH at IRL Gallery. The exhibition, “alt+AR,” will run November 10 – December 1, 2017.

“alt+AR” is a site-specific virtual reality installation that combines a digital environment with material artifacts to produce a space of renewed attention. Using perverse forms of persuasion, the exhibition exploits our everyday viewing habits and capacities for image recognition to render our surroundings anew. Arranged in a grid, concrete units orient the visitor to the room and provide the physical support for a series of metallic prints. Each print translates a mixture of religious and pop iconography into visual patterns with virtual depth upon a fundamentally flat support. Nested within this field of images is a VR headset that, contrary to standard practices, displays an uncanny version of the exact same gallery with the intent of heightening our awareness of the space around us.