OMAHA, NEB.- Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is presenting two immersive exhibitions — Close to the Clouds: Encountering Digital Diasporas and Ezra Masch: VOLUMES. On view through May 3, 2026, both exhibitions invite audiences into richly sensorial environments that challenge perceptions and explore the evolving intersections of identity, technology, sound, and space.

Close to the Clouds: Encountering Digital Diasporas

Curated by 2024–2025 Curator-in-Residence Kathy Cho, Close to the Clouds considers how the formation of collective identities takes place utilizing technology and the internet. Featuring work by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Zainab Aliyu, Rindon Johnson, Lauren Lee McCarthy and Kyle McDonald, Rebeca Romero, and Tianyi Sun and Fiel Guhit, the exhibition offers a compelling snapshot of artistic practices at the intersection of migration, memory, and media.

Presented through interactive installations, immersive video works, and emerging technologies, the exhibition centers digital space as both archive and space for exploration — examining how dispersed communities connect through code, livestreams, and algorithmic intimacy.

Participating artists have been featured in institutions and publications such as the Museum of Modern Art, Venice Biennale, Ars Electronica, Artforum, and more. Together, their work renders visible the emotional texture of diasporic life in the digital age.

“This exhibition is a reflection of our current times and deeply resonant,” said Kathy Cho, who researched and curated the exhibition while living on-site at Bemis Center. “It’s been a privilege to think through complex themes alongside the artists and their work, with a focus on how it feels to be part of these various communities and how our everyday relationships to technology affect our understanding of ourselves.”

Ezra Masch: VOLUMES

An acclaimed artist known for his cross-disciplinary approach to sound, light, and architecture, Ezra Masch brings his groundbreaking installation VOLUMES to Bemis Center, curated by Chief Curator and Director of Programs Rachel Adams.

Austin, Texas-based Masch — whose work has been exhibited at institutions including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, Va.), The Ringling (Sarasota, Fla.), Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and Bozar, The Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels, Belgium) — transforms Bemis’s galleries into an instrument in itself. VOLUMES is an interactive audio-visual installation that translates live-performed percussion into synchronized bursts of light and movement, allowing viewers to see sound and hear space in real time.

“We are honored to host Ezra Masch alongside the powerful voices in Close to the Clouds,” said Rachel Adams. “Together, these exhibitions transform our galleries into multisensory landscapes — spaces where sound, light, and digital traces come alive in ways that invite active participation, reflection, and awe.”