Christian Nicolay
Christian Nicolay is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist working between Kelowna and Vancouver BC. His practice investigates observations around the measures of time and memory through the lens of paradox – temporary/permanent, absence/presence – exploring the liminal spaces where these states intersect. Attracted to the inherent tension between stability and flux, his works serve as catalysts for dialogue through perpetually examining qualities of transitional spaces and the in-between. Rooted in research and experimentation, these explorations converge across drawing, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, installation, performance and sound.
In an earlier work Nicolay hitchhiked across Canada with a wooden chair mapping his travels of the unusual and unexpected moments of transition between moving and sitting. This became a strategy of making people aware of art in practice by blurring the line between art and the everyday. He also did a 364-foot unauthorized climbing of Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver BC transforming it into a musical instrument entitled Taking the bridge. The Day Job, an ongoing work that started in 2003 incorporates hiding as he puts, "silent graffiti" inside the backs of artworks at hotels and other hard to find places without detection. In Where I Lay My Head is Home (2006-Ongoing) Nicolay photographs himself lying face down in prominent locations around the world as a reaction and counterbalance to the cliché tourist photo or “selfie”. Temporary Landscapes (2015-Ongoing) modifies found and salvaged wooden shipping pallets into "sculptural graffiti", sometimes by integrating tracking devices into the structures and then leaving them in unsuspecting alleyways to be found, moved, destroyed or collected. Collaboration with artists from various fields draws on his curiosity of finding the things that connect what seem to be disparate practices, usually taking shape in the form of performances, concept albums and installations.
Nicolay graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC Okanagan) receiving the Helen Pitt Award in 2000. His work has been exhibited widely in both Canada and abroad and has been the recipient of several awards, grants, honours and residencies. Selected exhibitions and screenings have been included at Therese-Giehse-Halle, Germany (2024); Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) Museum, South Korea (2024); The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Canada (2023); TRAPP Projects, Canada (2022); Mnemosphere Project, Italy (2021); VIVO Media Arts Centre, Canada (2020); StaamUp, Netherlands (2020); MADATAC X Media Art Festival, Spain (2019); Cinémathèque de Grenoble, France (2018); Cinemateca, South America (2018); Kimoto Galley, Canada (2018, 2017, 2016); 17th Media Art WRO Biennale, Poland (2017); Kunst Film Festival #3, Germany (2017); International Short Film Festival, Belgium (2017); Absolute Space for the Arts, Taiwan (2016, 2015); 7th Cairo Video Festival, Egypt (2015); National Art Gallery, Thailand (2015); VAEFF, Video Art and Experimental Film Festival, USA (2014); Initial Gallery, Canada (2014); Art Experience Gallery, Hong Kong (2013); SESIFF The 5th Seoul International Extreme-Short Image and Film Festival, Korea (2013); ANEMIC: Independent Film and New Media Festival, Czech Republic (2012); Schmiede Art Festival, Austria (2012); Museum of Medical Humanities, Taiwan (2012); Elliott Louis Gallery, Canada (2012, 2006, 2005); CAMP Talganie Museum, Japan (2011); Esplanade Art Gallery, Canada (2009); ME’D1.ATE Network, USA (2008); Fundacion Octaedro, South America (2007); Eastern Edge Gallery, Canada (2005); Kelowna Art Gallery, Canada (2004), Trinity Square Video, Canada (2001) and the Galerie Verticale, Canada (2000).
He has worked as an artist in residence in Burnaby BC Canada, Deer Lake (2022); Enschede Netherlands, ARE (2018); Jyväskylä Finland, Äkkigalleria (2015 & 2010); Taipei Taiwan, Taipei Artist Village TAV (2010); Toronto ON Canada, NAISA, Deep Wireless Festival, Charles Street Video (2006) and Kelowna BC Canada, Alternator Gallery (2004). He was the recipient of Canada Council visual and media arts travel grants (2000 & 2006); the Judges award winner at the Make it Short Film Festival, Portland OR USA (2012) and Honorable Mention for Dave Bown Projects - 11th Semiannual Competition (2015).