Hello! Sound, Voice & Connection – Heather Nichol

Research focus

An exploration of the ways sound resonates when juxtaposed with objects and materials outside of the typical repertoire for listening. How does an artist whose background has involved using inanimate materials – which can be stretched, layered, reformatted or discarded without any regard for their contributions or feelings – translate their practice to include a ‘human resource’? How can this exchange expand or alter that practice, or the practices of participants?

About the researcher

Heather Nicol is a Toronto-based artist whose practice includes immersive sound installation, sculpture, performance and participatory actions. Her focus is large-scale site-specific interventions which explore the architectural, sonic, historic and operational conditions of her locations. These have included enormous concourse atriums, urban infrastructure sites, rail terminus (active as well as decommissioned), a storage locker facility, performance venue lobbies and theatres, and a French Chateau. Throughout her interdisciplinary practice, she has worked with actors, musicians, choreographers, educators and fabricators.

Nicol has engaged with children, the elderly, migrant youth, people living with Parkinson’s disease, and passers-by in a variety of forums: interactive artworks, a 60 person “flash mob”, and participatory sound-making events and performances.

Collaborators and credits

Dmitry Chepovetsky, Elley-Ray Hennessey, Marie-Josée Lefebvre, Martin Julien, Tony Nappo, Bea Pizano and Bruce Vavrina with Nightswimming’s Brian Quirt and Naomi Campbell.

May 10-12, 2004 at Toronto’s Theatre Centre.