Nearshore
multimedia installation, 30 min., 2026Nearshore is an invitation to attune to the soundtrack of the ever shifting boundary between Toronto/Mnjikaning/Tkarón:to and Lake Ontario/Niigaani-gichigami/Oniatarí:io, an interface and a site of convergence and friction between many beings.
These sounds came from the place marked by layers of displacement and transformation: shaped by retreating glaciers, stolen from Indigenous peoples, extended outward by the city, borrowed from the lake and defended against its return. The waterfront of Toronto we know today was a lakebed just over a century ago. From landmarks left by Lake Iroquois, a larger predecessor of Lake Ontario, to maps of colonial land expropriations and recent infill projects, to datasets projecting ice cover disappearance, floods, land erosion, and “vertical allowances”—Nearshore offers an audio map, reminding us that the shoreline is a temporary arrangement.
Originally created for a multichannel installation, Nearshore is a layered composition that can be experienced in different ways. The first edition featured two synchronized sound streams, simultaneously played through four speakers and multiple open-back headphones. These two streams are both based on field recordings: one more speculative and encircling, the other more descriptive and tangible. The tracks can be experienced independently or as complementary layers. A multilayered projection and a handmade book of historical maps function as a non-linear visual score, while poetic captions projected on a separate screen provide additional points of access.
Notes on audience experiences