The Only Way Out Is Through: The 2025 IMDA MFA Thesis Exhibition May 14–June 12, 2025 UMBC’s INTERMEDIA AND DIGITAL ARTS (IMDA) Masters Program presents “The Only Way Out Is Through,” the 2025 IMDA MFA Thesis Exhibition. Opening on Tuesday, March 25th with a public reception with the artists on March 27th, 5-7 pm, the thesis exhibition features five artists with diverse artistic practices and approaches: McCoy Chance, Ahlam Khamis, Ghazal Mojtahedi, Alexi Scheiber, and Mariia Usova. Since the inception of the IMDA MFA Program at UMBC in 1992, the exhibition is presented each spring semester. Past exhibitions have included installation, performance, film, video, photography, animation, interactive art, sculpture, audio works, painting, drawing, and print media. Click on each image to discover more about the artist and their body of work: McCoy Chance, “Feedback for Nature – Dead Set 1988” (Installation view), 2025, six-channel video, one-channel audio, five black and white abandoned security monitors, one resurrected Toshiba Blackstripe Color TV (1988), cement blocks, composite cords, 3:30, photo: courtesy of the artist. Ahlam Khamis, Khalti Badr Rides Merry Go Round (Ink Jet Print), April 2024, 15” x 10”, Videography by Ania Flanigan Peña Ghazal Mojtahedi, “Hanging Garden and the Echo of Home,” 2025, Mixed media installation (suitcases, video mapping, motion graphics, audio, personal artifacts), (still image), photo: courtesy of the artist Alexi Schieber, “Artifacts from the Dreaming World – Tailoring & Fibers Workshop” (detail), 2024, Gouache on black paper, photo: courtesy of the artist Mariia Usova, “Untitled 1” glass sculpture from the “Untitled Sculptures” series, documented during the “Porous Alternatives” show at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in NYC. Photo courtesy of Elisheva Gavra. close McCoy Chance, “Feedback for Nature – Dead Set 1988” (Installation view), 2025, six-channel video, one-channel audio, five black and white abandoned security monitors, one resurrected Toshiba Blackstripe Color TV (1988), cement blocks, composite cords, 3:30, photo: courtesy of the artist.McCoy Chance works with discarded electronics as Living material in “The Dead, The Living, and The Injured,” a body of work that transforms technological waste into pulsating experimental media and sculptural installation. The work explores the relentless evolution of technology through the lens of the environment and discarded electronics, sparking dialogue on how we move forward in an era of planned obsolescence. McCoy actively shapes the media in the body of work through a mix of experimentation, research, and handmade analog video devices. Ahlam Khamis, Khalti Badr Rides Merry Go Round (Ink Jet Print), April 2024, 15” x 10”, Videography by Ania Flanigan PeñaPalestinian American multidisciplinary artist displaying a body of work that unpacks what it means to make art during a genocide featuring donkeys and a magic carpet. Ghazal Mojtahedi, “Hanging Garden and the Echo of Home,” 2025, Mixed media installation (suitcases, video mapping, motion graphics, audio, personal artifacts), (still image), photo: courtesy of the artist“Hanging Garden and the Echo of Home” is a multimedia installation combining video-mapped suitcases, Persian-inspired patterns, and personal imagery, exploring migration as a sensory experience through motion graphics and audio storytelling. Alexi Schieber, “Artifacts from the Dreaming World – Tailoring & Fibers Workshop” (detail), 2024, Gouache on black paper, photo: courtesy of the artist “Awake/Dreaming” by Alexi Scheiber is a body of work that imagines a restorative world where humanity lives in harmony with nature, based on implementable climate solutions. Mariia Usova, “Untitled 1” glass sculpture from the “Untitled Sculptures” series, documented during the “Porous Alternatives” show at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in NYC. Photo courtesy of Elisheva Gavra. “Fragile Witness: Sculptural Dialogues in Glass” comprises four conceptually interwoven works—Sarcophagus, Gasps, Untitled Sculptures, and Milk and Blood—that explore resilience, fragility, and the dissolution of personal identity into collective experience. Using glass as a medium, the works navigate themes of memory, sacrifice, and the sacred in the mundane, with content illuminated through what I call a “revealing gesture.” Photo by Tedd Henn Related Events The Only Way Out is Through: Artist Reception CADVCMarch 27, 2025 5PM–7PM Learn More > The Only Way Out Is Through: RTKL Lecture featuring Alexi Scheiber CADVCApril 15, 2025 12:30PM–1:30PM Learn More > Photo by Tedd Henn Photo by Tedd Henn Visitor Information Our exhibitions and events are free and open to the public for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University’s nondiscrimination policy. If you need specific accommodations at one of our events, whether in person or online, or to experience an exhibition, please contact CADVC at cadvc@umbc.edu or 410-455-3188 as soon as possible.
McCoy Chance, “Feedback for Nature – Dead Set 1988” (Installation view), 2025, six-channel video, one-channel audio, five black and white abandoned security monitors, one resurrected Toshiba Blackstripe Color TV (1988), cement blocks, composite cords, 3:30, photo: courtesy of the artist.McCoy Chance works with discarded electronics as Living material in “The Dead, The Living, and The Injured,” a body of work that transforms technological waste into pulsating experimental media and sculptural installation. The work explores the relentless evolution of technology through the lens of the environment and discarded electronics, sparking dialogue on how we move forward in an era of planned obsolescence. McCoy actively shapes the media in the body of work through a mix of experimentation, research, and handmade analog video devices.
Ahlam Khamis, Khalti Badr Rides Merry Go Round (Ink Jet Print), April 2024, 15” x 10”, Videography by Ania Flanigan PeñaPalestinian American multidisciplinary artist displaying a body of work that unpacks what it means to make art during a genocide featuring donkeys and a magic carpet.
Ghazal Mojtahedi, “Hanging Garden and the Echo of Home,” 2025, Mixed media installation (suitcases, video mapping, motion graphics, audio, personal artifacts), (still image), photo: courtesy of the artist“Hanging Garden and the Echo of Home” is a multimedia installation combining video-mapped suitcases, Persian-inspired patterns, and personal imagery, exploring migration as a sensory experience through motion graphics and audio storytelling.
Alexi Schieber, “Artifacts from the Dreaming World – Tailoring & Fibers Workshop” (detail), 2024, Gouache on black paper, photo: courtesy of the artist “Awake/Dreaming” by Alexi Scheiber is a body of work that imagines a restorative world where humanity lives in harmony with nature, based on implementable climate solutions.
Mariia Usova, “Untitled 1” glass sculpture from the “Untitled Sculptures” series, documented during the “Porous Alternatives” show at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in NYC. Photo courtesy of Elisheva Gavra. “Fragile Witness: Sculptural Dialogues in Glass” comprises four conceptually interwoven works—Sarcophagus, Gasps, Untitled Sculptures, and Milk and Blood—that explore resilience, fragility, and the dissolution of personal identity into collective experience. Using glass as a medium, the works navigate themes of memory, sacrifice, and the sacred in the mundane, with content illuminated through what I call a “revealing gesture.”
The Only Way Out Is Through: RTKL Lecture featuring Alexi Scheiber CADVCApril 15, 2025 12:30PM–1:30PM Learn More >
