The Wabash Art Crawl will kick off The 2103 International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, highlighting the Columbia College involvement with this important international event. One of the new features at the Expo will be EXPO VIDEO, presented by the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art in conjunction with Columbia College Chicago. This selection of dynamic and cutting-edge film, video, and new media works by artists was chosen from the 125 international exhibiting galleries at the 2013 exposition taking place next week from September 19 – 22. EXPO VIDEO has been curated by Dean Otto, Program Manager of the Film/Video Department at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center. One of his featured presentations will be a work created by Columbia College InterArts MFA Ahmed Hamad. Hamad’s work, The Home of the Dead concerns the use of drones in his homeland, and was filmed in November 2012 on the third day of the Israeli attacks over the Gaza Strip. The footage was captured during the five Islamic prayer times in one day, and the soundtrack is a recording of Hamad vocally performing sounds of drones and war alarms.

This fall Hamad started his thesis year in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media department, while also working as a multimedia editor and photojournalist for the Columbia Chronicle. His work is informed by the experience of circumnavigating two realities in two different places—his home in Chicago, where he is an arts activist, and his home in Gaza Strip, Palestine.

“We’re thrilled to sponsor EXPO VIDEO this year, guest curated by Dean Otto, featuring a lineup of innovative film and video artists, including Ahmed Hamad,” said Neysa Page-Lieberman, Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Performance and Student Spaces at Columbia College Chicago. “It is yet another wonderful example of linking artists, students, and the public with an enriching, creative cultural experience that is distinctly Chicago.” A total of 14 Columbia College students were included in this year’s EXPO VIDEO, and five of those were from InterArts” Valentina Vella (Thesis year Media), Penelope Hearne (Thesis year Media), Leo Selvaggio (Thesis year Media), Dennis Bure (Thesis year Media, and Alex Borgen, (Thesis year Book + Paper).

EXPO VIDEO was located on the main floor of the exposition at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. The works were housed at three curated viewing stations designed by Studio Gang Architects. For more information, click here.