Faculty based on VCUarts and the VCUarts Qatar campuses will present their research, following the traditional ‘Pecha Kucha’ (20×20) format, highlighting the diversity of practices across the two campuses.
An event hosted by VCUarts Dean Carmenita Higginbotham and VCUarts Qatar Dean Amir Berbić in celebration of Qatar Week 2023.
Featured Faculty Presenters:
Semi Ryu, Ph.D.
Professor, Kinetic Imaging, VCUarts
Associate professor, Internal Medicine, School of Medicine (Affiliate)
Semi Ryu, a media artist, specializes in experimental 3D animations, Avatar, and Extended Reality projects inspired by Korean healing rituals. She is a full professor of Kinetic Imaging at VCU Arts and an associate professor of Internal Medicine at VCU Medicine (affiliate). Ryu earned a BFA from Korea National University of Arts, an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph.D. with the Highest Honor from Doctoral program in Humanities and Communication at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, with thesis “Embodied Avatar Performance, Han Healing Ritual and Life-Review: Intersections of Art, Health and Virtual Reality.” Ryu’s work is featured in 23 countries at international screenings, exhibitions, and performances. Her articles are published in top journals including International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Arts & Health. She received the 2020 Hamilton International Arts in Health award (first place in Arts for Innovation) and VCU Arts Faculty Award for Distinguished Achievement in Research 2017, and has been featured at TEDxRVA, with her talk “Virtual Reality for Han”. Ryu has earned various grants, including VCU Presidential Quest Fund, VCU Breakthrough, NEH, NSF, and Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.
Laura Battaglia
Assistant Professor, Interior Design, VCUarts
Laura Battaglia is Assistant Professor of Interior Design in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has taught previously at Hampton University, North Carolina State University and the Art Institute of Virginia Beach. As an educator with more than 20 years of professional experience in interior design and architecture, Battaglia values a comprehensive approach to design education: one that bridges research, practice and creative exploration. Her interests focus on interdisciplinary initiatives that result in new research used as teaching tools. Two current trajectories—exploring Virginia’s history in academic studio projects of reconciliation and remembrance and investigating trauma-informed design approaches for affordable and sustainable housing—simultaneously inform her research and pedagogy. Her interests extend to early design education. Battaglia founded and directed Archi Camp—a summer camp that provides an intensive design course to local middle school students of color. She is currently enjoying being a mentor and educator at the Project Pipeline summer camp sponsored by a new Virginia chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. She is the owner of Studiobattaglia, LLC, and holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Virginia.
Roberto Jamora
Assistant Professor, Art Foundation Program, VCUarts
Roberto Jamora is an Assistant Professor in the Art Foundation Program in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. He holds a B.F.A. from VCU and an M.F.A. from the State University of New York at Purchase. He is the Asian Centennial Distinguished Fine Arts Fellow at the College of William & Mary. Jamora makes abstract paintings that feature colors from his memories, photos of loved ones, landscapes and artifacts from family, ultimately asking the viewer to reflect on the meanings and power of color. He is represented by Page Bond Gallery (Richmond, Va.) and FLXST Contemporary (Chicago, Ill.) where he has a solo exhibition opening in November 2023. He has participated in artist residencies including Joan Mitchell Center, Jentel Artist Residency, Hambidge Center, Ragdale Foundation and Virginia Center of the Creative Arts. He has exhibited work at spaces including Topaz Arts, Maake Projects, Antenna, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Fundacja Stefana Gierowskiego, Frost Art Museum and Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans. His artwork is part of collections including the Atlanta Hawks NBA Team, State Farm Art Collection, Capital One Art Collection, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, Muscarelle Museum of Art and private collections throughout North America, the United Kingdom and the Philippines.
Sandy Zohore
Assistant Professor, Painting + Printmaking, VCUarts
Monsieur Zohore (b. 1993, Potomac, Md.) addresses the consumption and digestion of culture through the conflation of domestic quotidian labor and art production. Through performance, video, installation and sculpture, his practices explore queer history alongside his Ivorian-American heritage through a multi-faceted lens of humor, economics, art history and labor. Zohore received an M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2020 and a B.F.A. from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York in 2015. Zohore has exhibited his works at venues such as The Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Jule Collins Smith Museum (Auburn University), Art021 (Shanghai), Paris Internationale (Paris), Art Athina (Athens), SculptureCenter (New York, N.Y.), The Clarington Art Center (Canada), Pace (New York, N.Y.), Spurs (Beijing), Tick Tack (Belgium), The Baker Museum (Florida), Socrates Sculpture Park (New York, N.Y.), The Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, Md.), Von Ammon Co (Washington, D.C.), The Washington Project for the Arts (Washington, D.C.), and Columbus Museum of Art (Columbus, Ohio). His work is in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, Md.); The Bunker Collection (West Palm Beach, Fla.); Brookfield Collection (New York, N.Y.); The Roux Collection (Panama City, Panama); Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.) (promised gift); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minn.) (promised gift); The Zuzuem (Latvia); The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (New York, N.Y.); The Rubell Museum (Miami Fla.); and Dangxia (Beijing, China).
Jason Bennett
Associate Professor, Communication Arts, VCUarts
Jason Bennett serves as an associate professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, specializing in game art and illustration. Born in 1981, Bennett has an expansive portfolio that includes collaborations with industry giants like Sony, Electronic Arts and NASA. His expertise covers various genres—from first-person shooters to puzzle games—and has been showcased in international projects like Bioshock Infinite, Madden NFL and Shadow of the Colossus (PS4). After earning a B.F.A. in Computer Animation from Ringling School of Design, Bennett further honed his skills in illustration and classical figurative art at institutions like the School of Visual Arts, the Art Students League and Grand Central Atelier. This academic background informs his professional work, adding depth and rigor. When not teaching or working behind the screen on game development projects, Bennett is an avid plein air landscape painter and enjoys exploring Richmond’s outdoor offerings.
Laura Chessin
Associate Professor, Department of Graphic Design, VCUarts
Laura Chessin is an associate professor in the Department of Graphic Design at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. Her work as a designer and artist is eclectic as she draws from both her undergraduate degree in photo and film and a professional career as a practicing designer, focusing primarily on publication and book design. A primary focus of her work is text-based, which ranges from the technical/digital realm of typeface design to hand-sewn texts on fabric, and includes book arts and personal writing. Another area of past work includes documentary film and photography projects, including documentary films about migrant birds in Panama—in partnership with faculty in VCU’s Center for Environmental Studies. Chessin sees a life in design as a fluid way to interpret personal and universal experiences through abstract and expressive forms. She plays traditional fiddle, an aesthetic that folds into her view of living through design. She might be hard to pin down. Chessin earned her M.F.A. in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her B.F.A. in photography from Cornell University.
Michael Hersrud
Associate Professor, Graphic Design, VCUarts Qatar
Michael Hersrud, an associate professor and honors administrator at VCUarts Qatar, is a multidisciplinary designer and sonic artist. His exploratory practice involves automation, data, dérive, drawing, language, layering, looping, sound, surface and systematic processes. He is the co-founder of Sonic Jeel, a collaborative research lab investigating experimental sound and modular music within the context of Qatar and the Gulf region. The lab celebrates the interplay of the sonic and the graphic toward a new generation of audiovisual makers. In addition to Michael’s creative practice, his scholarship investigates student-centered teaching and making through pedagogical-based examination. Domains of inquiry revolve around curricular development, modes of student engagement, cultural production, processes & tools for experimental image making, playful interactions, sound design, and ‘extra–disciplinary’ design praxis. He has taught at the university level for 18 years. Michael has traveled to 50+ countries and enjoys listening to and observing surrounding spaces. Michael grew up in Minnesota (USA) and has worked as a freelance designer and digital/analog graphic artist for 27+ years. He currently resides in Doha and Barcelona.
Rola Khayyat
Assistant Professor, Painting + Printmaking (time-based media), VCUarts Qatar
Rola Khayyat is a Lebanese interdisciplinary artist, educator and curator. Her work explores new dimensions on the representation of war, memory, and belonging. Rola has curated shows in Beirut, Thessaloniki, Havana, and New York, such as the BEYroute for the third Thessaloniki Biennale, Lattice Work at the Black and White gallery, Simmer at Kunstraum LLC. and Light in Wartime at apexart. She has participated in artist residencies such as Artellewa, Kamen Art Residency, and curatorial workshops such as the Young Curators Academy, the Salzburg Academy of Art and the Festival Academy. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including exhibitions at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Okk / raum 29, Catalyst Arts Belfast Photo Festival 2013, the 21st International Istanbul Art Fair and North of History (NY). Rola is a recipient of the Magnum Foundation (2020), Civitella Ranieri (2021), PerForm (2023) fellowships and the Quest and FRG Fund Awards (2022). Khayyat received a B.A. in Historical Studies from the American University of Beirut (2003), a diploma in Intensive Drawing and Painting from the Florence Academy of Art (2005) and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University (2016). She is currently Assistant professor in the Painting and Printmaking Department at VCUarts in Qatar.
Mohammed Suleiman
Chair, Associate Professor, Interior Design, VCUarts Qatar
Mohammad Nabil Suleiman is an Architect, Assistant Professor and Chair of the Interior Design department. He holds an M.Arch from the Emergent Technologies & Design Program at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and a B.Arch from the American University of Sharjah. Mohammad is a co-founder and principal of xLab – Studio for Computation and New Making, his research investigates spatial mapping and data-driven design workflows for the existing built environment.
Simone Muscolino
Associate Professor and Director, Art Foundation, VCUarts Qatar
Simone Muscolino holds the position of Associate Professor and Director of the Art Foundation program at VCUarts Qatar. He is a multidisciplinary designer whose research practice is focused on time-based media. He is the co-director of Sonic Jeel, a collaborative research lab investigating sound, electronic music, and audiovisual media within the context of Qatar and the Gulf region. Muscolino served as one of the directors of 3ajeeb! Tasmeem Doha Art and Design Conference 2015. Previously he held the positions of visiting professor and video art director at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, where he was also one of the project leaders of e1 (Exhibition Unit), a design unit active on various projects for public and private clients. He co-founded and partnered Interaction Design Lab, a Milan based company working in the crossover between technology and design. He taught at Architectural Association London, NABA Milan, Strelka Institute Moscow, IED Rome, Domus Academy Milan, Fachhochschule University of Applied Science Düsseldorf. Muscolino’s work and installations have been exhibited at venues such as the Venice Biennale, Milano Triennale, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, NYC WantedDesign, Providence RISD Museum, Kraftwerk Berlin, Manege Central St.Petersburg, Beijing Biennale of Architecture, Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival, Fire Station Gallery and Al-Riwaq Doha Exhibition Space.
Hadeer Omar
Assistant Professor, Art Foundation, VCUarts Qatar
Hadeer Omar’s passion for documentary storytelling and cultural movements crosses disciplines within art, immersive technology, new digital media, photography, and film, as a means of presenting stories through her work. She found her way by utilizing digital and analog tools, to observe her surroundings, document her process, and build a body of work that tells stories. Her diverse body of work includes multimedia installations, video projections, mixed reality experiences, motion graphics, and experimental Audiovisual performances. Omar explores socio-cultural systems in the MENA region and investigates complex matters of identity, memories, and selfhood by visual documentation and execution. Omar served as a co-chair of the Tasmeem Doha Art and Design Conference in 2019. She participated in the AIR program at Doha Fire Station 2021, where she developed her acclaimed audiovisual installation titled “Fragmented Realities.” Her first VR short film, “Gihan,” was produced at Documentary Lab at Doha Film Institute and selected to be part of Qumra 2023. Omar collaborated with Sonic Jeel and Katia Kolovea on the commission “And thereafter,” which brought the Alkoot Fort heritage site to life for the Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival, 2021-2023. Demonstrating her expertise in visual storytelling, she served as the creative director for the FIFA World Cup Official Music Videos “Light the Sky” and “Ezz Alarab” in 2022. Additionally, she was accepted into the Electric South XR Lab in South Africa in 2018, further expanding her XR horizons. Her short film “The Reason _ July 2017” was officially selected at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival in the UK in 2018. Omar’s project, “3arabizi keyboard,” received an honorary mention at the STARTS Prize, the grand prize of the European Commission that honors innovation in technology, industry, and society stimulated by the arts, in 2017. It was showcased at the Drive: Volkswagen Group Forum in Berlin, Germany. Omar teaches Time-based media and storytelling, empowering her students to utilize XR technologies to create immersive and engaging works. She bridges art, new media processes, and storytelling, introducing her students to emerging technologies that will shape the future of art and design. Omar’s teaching philosophy unlocks students’ creative potential by fostering their unique perspectives and approaches to storytelling in the MENA region. Her students explore and produce various forms of artistic expression, including video art installations, 360 short films, and photo sequencing.
Meera Badran
Acting Head of Exhibitions and Lectures, VCUarts Qatar
Meera Badran is a multidisciplinary designer, researcher and writer—exploring biopolitics, technology and the environment, with a focus on the Arabic-speaking body. She is the Acting Head of Exhibitions and Lectures at VCUarts Qatar and a researcher for the interdisciplinary design studio 2050+ in Milan. Under 2050+, she has worked on a series of research-based exhibitions and public interventions which focus on digital selves – including AVATAR (in collaboration with Epic Games + Royal College of Art, 2021), Dancing in Transit (Milan Design Week, 2022) and Synthetic Cultures (International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, 2022). Her research and writing has been published in I, Like Many Things by Yale School of Architecture (2023), Cities After Algorithms by Failed Architecture (2021), Dixit #2: A Matter of Data by Cosa Mentale (2020) and as one of the Game Changing Architecture Graduates by The Funambulist magazine (2020). She has participated in conferences including Repositioning Architecture in the Digital by the Jaap Bakema Instituut in collaboration with the Het Nieuwe Instituut and TU Delft University (2020) and exhibited at Tasmeem Doha: Radical Futures (2022). She holds an MA in Architecture from the Royal College of Art.