Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge, “As the Hour Turns Blue”, May 24 – June 28, 2024

Discover the beauty in the mundane with Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge’s latest installation, As the Hour Turns Blue. Delving into the essence of waiting rooms, Leblanc-Roberge invites viewers to contemplate the significance of these often-overlooked spaces in our daily lives.

Buffalo Arts Studio is excited to present As the Hour Turns Blue, a groundbreaking installation by acclaimed artist and educator, Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge. Stemming from her long-term research on waiting spaces, this immersive experience combines photography, video projection, and storytelling to offer a fresh perspective on the concept of waiting. As the Hour Turns Blue is on display May 24–June 8, 2024 with an Opening Reception on Friday, May 24, 5:00—8:00 pm. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

The exhibition includes multiple elements interacting with the gallery walls and floors, such as large format prints, assemblages of photographic images, and small screens. The installation also features a 60-minute video projection, looping back every hour, which acts as a clock within the gallery space. Through desktop performances, contemplative collages, and meditations on the passage of time, Leblanc-Roberge delves into the intricacies of waiting, incorporating short stories, interviews, reconstructed environments, landscapes, objects, and visual poems.

Leblanc-Roberge explains, “What is a waiting room? One chair, or two, or many. Or maybe only a piece of tape on the floor, to mark where the waiting begins. There, we are waiting for something. For a train to arrive, for a number to appear on a screen, for our name to be called, for a dear friend to meet us. We are suspending ourselves in time and in space.”

As the Hour Turns Blue celebrates the non-productive moments of hesitation, latency, and stillness, inviting viewers to embrace boredom as a pathway to observation, learning, and slowing down. Through this installation, Leblanc-Roberge offers a unique perspective on the concept of waiting and its significance in our lives.

“This installation at Buffalo Arts Studio is an invitation to wander through a collection of waiting room stories and images I have slowly gathered over the past years,” Leblanc-Roberge concludes.

Experience As the Hour Turns Blue at the Buffalo Arts Studio and embark on a journey through the familiar world of waiting rooms, reimagined through the lens of Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge’s visionary artistry.

Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge (she/her) is an image maker and learner from Canada and currently Associate Professor of Art and Lens Based Media at the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York). Leblanc-Roberge has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the University of Rochester and participated in multiple artist-in-residence programs across continents to produce multifaceted and collaborative projects published as books, videos, zines, exhibitions, performances, and/or ephemeral installations. She completed her BFA in photography at Concordia University (Montréal, Canada) and her MFA in electronic integrated arts at Alfred University (Alfred, New York).

Press Release available here.