TALK

Nico williams en conversation bg — Nico Williams, *Uncle*, 2023. 10/0 Japanese glass cylinder beads and 11/0 seed beads on thermally-fused/braided polyethylene thread, mother-of-pearl buttons. Courtesy of Gochman Family Collection. Photo: Paul Litherland.

Apr. 30 In conversation with Nico Williams

Event
Contemporary Art

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Free admission
Reservations required

All ages

Doors: 6:30 PM
Conversation: 7 PM to 8:30 PM

PHI 407 Saint-Pierre Street, Space 1
Montréal, Québec H2Y 2M3

PHI presents a conversation between artist Nico Williams and Daniel Fiset, curator of the exhibition Bingo, on view from April 25 to September 14, 2025.

During this discussion, Williams will explore the development of his first major solo exhibition, which brings together works from 2015 to the present. Through the medium of beadwork, the artist creates a tension between art and craftsmanship that shapes his artistic practice. Williams and Fiset will discuss concepts such as economy, circulation, cultural hierarchy, and disparities, while highlighting key works from the exhibition.

The conversation will take place in English, with a Q&A session in both French and English.

Biographies

Nico Williams

A member of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation (Anishinaabe), Nico Williams, ᐅᑌᒥᐣ (born in 1989), currently lives and works in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. He holds a Master of Fine Arts with a specialization in sculpture from Concordia University (2021). His multidisciplinary and often collaborative practice focuses on sculptural beadwork. Actively engaged in Montréal’s Indigenous art community, Williams is also part of the research team for the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork project. He has led workshops at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the McCord Stewart Museum, the University of Toronto, and MoMA x AIC. In 2021, he was awarded the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art, and in 2024, he won the prestigious Sobey Art Award, for which he was also shortlisted in 2022.

His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the National Gallery of Canada (2024), the Art Gallery of Hamilton (2023), the MacKenzie Art Gallery (2022), the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2021), and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2019). He also participated in the group exhibition Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969 at the Hessel Museum of Art in New York State. His works are part of major public collections, including those of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Archives of Quebec, the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, and the Royal Bank of Canada. His work has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Fluevog Artist Grant.

Daniel Fiset

Daniel Fiset is a cultural worker based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. Having worked at PHI for nearly fifteen years, he currently holds the position of Curator. His projects at PHI include the exhibitions Terms of Use (co-curated with Cheryl Sim) and … et de la place dans le sac aux étoiles, the design of the PHI Montréal public engagement residency, and the development of a robust public program created in dialogue with the PHI team and numerous Québec artists.

Holding a PhD in art history from the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Suzanne Paquet, he also conducts independent research on the intersection of educational and artistic practices in Québec, as well as on the integration of historical and critical materialisms in contemporary art approaches. As a curator, writer, art critic, and educator, he has collaborated with numerous local and international cultural institutions.