Mechanism of Choice
Jacquelin Heichert – 2021
The pieces within this exhibition work with game board pieces, machines and user guides; and focuses on the act of decision making where the answer or the decision is suspended at its climactic point to open up possibilities.
The exhibition Mechanism of Choice examines and highlights different aspects of choice and decision making in everyday life through a collection of books, prints and sculptural works. The pieces within this exhibition work with game board pieces, machines and user guides; and focuses on the act of decision making where the answer or the decision is suspended at its climactic point to open up possibilities. In this way the works speak to a critical moment in time before a decision becomes resolved, the moment between a question and answer, and reveals the interior dialogues that surface when choosing or deciding.
The works speak to the anxiety that may be experienced when there are many choices for which rational factors are no longer sufficient. Ultimately, the exhibition explores logic and behaviour in the context of making a decision, and through the isolation of this critical moment in time, looks at the ways in which people interact with and make sense of the world.
Watch the Virtual Artist Talk here.
Mechanism of Choice was on display from March 20, 2021 to July 2021 in the State of Flux Gallery.
Photos by Chris Miner.
About the Artist
Jacquelin Heichert
“In my art practice aim to find connections, highlight processes and explore experiences that are implicit in everyday life and contribute to an understanding of the ways in which people interact with and make sense of the world. Minute everyday situations, such as what we think about when sharing an armrest or stepping onto an elevator or the mental moment of deciding, are the subject of my work. These ubiquitous moments act as sites that ground abstract thoughts and inherent processes within a context of familiarity and provide access points through which more symbolic aspects of the human experience, such as cultural practices, rituals and value systems, can be explored and examined.”
Jacquelin Heichert is a Toronto based artist specializing in print media, book works and sculpture. Heichert holds a BFA from York University, Ontario and a MFA from Concordia University, Quebec. Heichert has attended several national and international artist residencies and received numerous awards including Spark Box Studio Emerging Artist Residency Award (Picton, ON), the Vermont Studio Center Residency (United States) and the Frans Masereel Centrum Printmaking Residency (Belgium) and has received the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant for her Master’s Degree research.
Her exhibition history includes solo exhibitions at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse (Montreal, QC), Gales Gallery (Toronto, ON), Latcham Art Centre (Stouffville, ON) and Atelier Circulaire (Montréal, QC). Heichert has been selected in group exhibitions include Eyelevel Gallery (Halifax, NS), Centre D’Exposition de Val-David (Val-David, QC), Cambridge Galleries (Cambridge, ON), Canadian Sculpture Centre (Toronto, ON), École des beaux-arts (Montreal, QC) and Kyoto International Woodprint Association (Japan).