Arrivals and Departures 

YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto. April 1 to July 15, 2023

4 video projections, altered baby grand piano, felt, charcoal, sound, speakers.

In a role as artist- curator, I invited six artists across photography, video and music to respond to a prompt in the creation of new work to be displayed, heard, and transformed by mix and overlap - with each other’s contributions, and with my own audio and sculptural elements. The installation spanned the three exhibition spaces of YYZ Artists’ Outlet, where layers of connective tissue across the works and spaces intersected. My curatorial experiment became an opportunity for artists and audiences to contemplate boundaries, creative authorship, and exchange. 

The contributing artists examined transitional moments of “arrivals” in the South Gallery and Window Space, while Nicol explored “departures” in the North Gallery. The multi-channel audio score was heard throughout. The exhibit centred themes of dislocation and relocation, proposing that each day is a flow of movements and discoveries, entrances and exits. Through photography, sculpture, film, and sound art, we variously considered life as a series of ever evolving arrivals and departures, right up until our unknowable final exit. 

Curation, sculpture, environment, sound Heather Nicol, Original audio score featuring Eve Egoyan on Augmented Piano, video related sound effects, and multiple voices.

4 minute videos, looped, 2023 by:  Feras Azzam (Syria/Toronto), Janet Biggs (New York), Sigrun Drapatz (Berlin), Gerardo Montiel Klint (Mexico).