The Front Yard in the Buffalo News

Burchfield Penney’s permanent outdoor installation opens Friday by Colin Dabkowski in the Buffalo News.

The zinc-plated facade of the Burchfield Penney Art Center (1300 Elmwood Ave.) will come flickering to life Friday at dusk, when the center flips the switch on the ambitious outdoor video and sound installation it has dubbed “The Front Yard.”

Starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday, the center will host a street party to celebrate the opening and close off traffic along Elmwood Avenue between Rockwell Road and Penhurst Place between 5 and 10 p.m. High-powered projectors in three towers will begin to illuminate the building at sundown, about 6:28 p.m. They will pull information from sensors installed throughout the campus that respond to wind and temperature, and from computers streaming videos from the center’s collection and uploads from artists around the world.

The three 24-foot towers, which were installed over the past two weeks, feature laser etchings of paintings by the center’s namesake, Charles Burchfield. They were designed by a team led by University at Buffalo architecture student Isabella Brito and fabricated by the local company Rigidized Metals. The project was originally conceived by video artist Brian Milbrand and architect Brad Wales, who together envisioned using the center as a canvas for an ever-growing and evolving series of projections.