![](https://interaccess.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Jawa%20El%20Khash%20The%20Upper%20Side%20of%20The%20Sky%202-header.jpg?itok=NvfsfKIK×tamp=1574787476)
The Upper Side of the Sky
InterAccess is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Damascus-born, Toronto-based multimedia artist Jawa El Khash. Jawa El Khash is the recipient of the 2019 InterAccess Media Arts Prize. For over twenty years this award has been granted annually to a graduating Integrated Media student at OCAD University whose work exhibits excellence and innovation in new media practice.
Through digital world-building, Jawa El Khash considers the interrelation of political and geographic displacement, archiving, and botany. In this exhibition, the artist presents her virtual reality work The Upper Side of the Sky, an immersive environment that resurrects ancient ruins and plant life lost to civil war in Palmyra, Syria. Using Unity, Houdini, and 3Ds Max, El Khash explores the tensions between digital technologies’ capacity to destroy and preserve life. Positioning this VR environment and associated research materials as an archive, El Khash’s digitally reimagined Palmyra is designed to aid cultural-historical memory of this place for future generations.
Read Vince Rozario's essay about this exhibition here.
Opening Reception
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
7-9PM
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jawa El Khash (b. 1995, Damascus) is a multidisciplinary artist that uses virtual reality, holography and painting to investigate nature, architecture, and immigrant refugee culture. By collecting and rendering digital materials, El Khash constructs and reimagines realms for lost cultural relics, oral traditions, and concepts. Recent exhibitions include "The Upper Side of The Sky" at Crutch CAC (2019), Digital Deserts at Kit & Ace (2018), and "Liminal Forms" at the OCAD University Graduate Gallery (2018).
![](https://interaccess.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_small_-_small__320_/public/VF24-PromoImage-GameJam-Banner.png?itok=qvZ31Am-×tamp=1718589706)
Past exhibition
Jul 18, 2024
VF24 | deu(s ex) machina Showcase
Our five gamemakers in residence have been hard at work making games exploring how technology has enriched/hindered pursuits for sexual intimacy and self-understanding; come join us in celebration, and play some games.
More
![](https://interaccess.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_small_-_small__320_/public/Akram_Vector_2560.jpeg?itok=gi4TpKH7×tamp=1718590519)
Past exhibition
Jul 12 - 19, 2024
VF24 | Resonant Futures
The intersection of ecology and technology is explored through new media artworks focused on disintegration, decomposition, and obsolete technology.
More
![](https://interaccess.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_small_-_small__320_/public/%2B1-home.jpg?itok=n7zjNndf×tamp=1712244641)
Past exhibition
Apr 24 - May 11, 2024
+1-home―Nada El-Omari and Sonya Mwambu
+1-home is custom-made to InterAccess’s immersive projection environment as a two-player interactive experience, developed with the support of InterAccess’s inaugural IA 360º Artists-in-Residence program.