Andria Hickey, photo by Melissa Goodwin.
Join us for an afternoon presentation with curator, writer, and strategic advisor Andria Hickey.
In this talk, Hickey reflects on her ongoing curatorial inquiry into the formal language of artworks emerging from research-based practices, and on how contemporary artists use minimalist and abstract vocabularies to distill complex social, political, and material conditions into objects of revelation and resistance.
Through examples from two past exhibitions, Hickey will explore how formal reduction can amplify conceptual complexity, and how opacity can function as a strategy for critical engagement. From a curatorial perspective, the talk considers exhibition-making and artistic research as parallel processes, each operating as both method and material.
This presentation offers insight into contemporary curatorial thinking and considers how abstraction can serve as a tool for inquiry, resistance, and meaning-making for artists, curators, and audiences.
Hickey is a faculty member for the Winter 2026 Banff Artist in Residence program, a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators at any stage of their career.
This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.
Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.
About Andria Hickey
Andria Hickey
Andria Hickey is a curator, writer, and strategic advisor. She is currently Head of Programs at Shorefast and Fogo Island Arts. Andria’s curatorial research and practice is focused on cross-disciplinary experimentation, socially engaged art, and contemporary approaches to abstraction in the digital age. She is inspired by the intersections of art and ecology, civic engagement and art in the public realm.
Prior to joining Shorefast, Andria oversaw the visual art program at The Shed, NY, and was previously global Senior Director and Curator at Pace Gallery from 2018 to 2022, where she established a new curatorial team and initiated the live arts program Pace Live. Before joining Pace, she was Senior Curator at MOCA Cleveland. Hailing from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, Andria earned her BA from Memorial University and an MA in Canadian Art History from Concordia University in Montreal. She moved to the United States in 2007 for a role in the Visual Arts Department at the Walker Art Center, where she was a curatorial fellow until 2010. Moving on to New York, she was Curator of Art in General in New York and later appointed Curator at the Public Art Fund where from 2011-2016, she organized public art exhibitions and new commissions throughout New York City.
In addition to her curatorial work, Andria is a strategic advisor to artists, cultural foundations, philanthropists, and arts institutions. She has lectured broadly, and her written work has been published in a wide variety of journals and exhibition catalogues.
Andria lives in upstate New York and spends time on Fogo Island whenever she can.