MONTREAL.- PHI unveils its Spring/Summer 2025 programming with two major new exhibitions: Nico Williams: Bingo and Lap-See Lam: Shadow Play. These exhibitions, presented across PHI’s two spaces on Saint-Jean Street in Old Montreal, mark a key step in PHI’s evolution as a unified cultural destination.

NICO WILLIAMS: BINGO

Nico Williams’s first large-scale solo museum exhibition, Bingo offers an in-depth look at a decade of creation, featuring over 30 works, including several new pieces specially conceived for this occasion. This exhibition challenges the boundary between art and craft, showcasing how these two spheres can nourish each other.

Williams, a rising figure on the international art scene and recipient of the 2024 Sobey Art Award, explores themes of gaming, economy, and cultural dynamics through beadwork. Bingo reflects on the connections between chance and social structures while integrating references to popular culture and Indigenous narratives.

Curator: Daniel Fiset, PHI

LAP-SEE LAM: SHADOW PLAY

Shadow Play by Lap-See Lam immerses visitors in an experience where memory, migration, and magical realism intertwine through captivating multimedia installations: Tales of the Altersea and Floating Sea Palace.

Tales of the Altersea explores the cultural transformation of the Cantonese diaspora in Europe through a video installation inspired by the visual language of shadow puppetry. Based on the story of the Sea Palace, a floating restaurant, Lam blends folkloric tales with an imagined narrative to question cultural heritage transmission and generational losses.

Floating Sea Palace is a video installation inspired by the myth of Lo Ting, a half human, half-fish being who is considered an ancestor of the people of Hong Kong. Projected within an immersive environment made of bamboo scaffolding—an essential element of Cantonese opera and construction—this film explores transformation, translation, and the desire to return to an ever-shifting home.

Curators: The exhibition is organized by The Vega Foundation, curated by Julia Paoli, Director & Curator at The Vega Foundation with Kate Whiteway, Assistant Curator at The Vega Foundation, and developed for PHI in dialogue with Cheryl Sim, Director and Chief Curator at PHI.

A NEW EXHIBITION ACCESS MODEL

These new exhibitions mark a pivotal moment for PHI as it transitions towards a unified identity. As of today, our two venues – the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art and the PHI Centre – are unifying to offer a seamless cultural experience driven by a shared mission: to innovate in the arts while ensuring greater accessibility to culture for an increasingly diverse audience. As part of this evolution, PHI is adopting a flexible ticketing model, allowing visitors to choose a price based on their situations. Some exhibitions, such as Jean-Marc Vallée: Mixtape at 407 Saint-Pierre Street, will remain free, ensuring inclusive access to art for all.

With this evolution, PHI solidifies its status as a must-visit cultural destination, offering diverse artistic experiences across multiple venues in Old Montreal.

Nico Williams

Nico Williams, ᐅᑌᒥᐣ (b. 1989), is an Anishinaabe artist from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, currently based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. He has a multidisci- plinary and, often collaborative, practice that is centred around sculptural beadwork. In 2021, he was awarded the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art, and in 2024, he was the laureate of the prestigious Sobey Art Award.

Lap-See Lam

Lap-See Lam is a Stockholm-based artist whose work traverses diverse genres and disciplines, from video installation to live performance, blending contemporary techniques with traditional references and methods. Lam represented Sweden in the Nordic pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. Her installation, The Altersea Opera, realized together with composer Tze Yeung Ho and textile artist Kholod Hawash, was commissioned by Moderna Museet in Stockholm for the Nordic Pavilion. Recent solo exhibitions include The Power Plant Gallery, Toronto (2024-25); Studio Voltaire, London (2024); AKG Art Museum, Buffalo (2023-24); Swiss Institute, New York; Portikus, Frankfurt (both 2023); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2022); and Trondheim Kunstmuseum (2021).