Emily Nicoll is a digital artist and founder of the record label Aquaregia Records, a project that merges hypnotic techno with a cohesive visual world. Her creative work blends analog and digital tools, often exploring softness within rigid structures. Whether designing generative vinyl covers or working with AI and photography, she builds experiences shaped by sound and emotion. 

This interview took place at the Hotel Saint George Hall during Art Blocks Marfa Weekend, where Emily Nicoll shared how music fuels her art practice, what it meant to debut as an Art Blocks artist, and how she continues to explore the balance between nature and technology.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

OpenSea: Can you start by introducing yourself?

Emily Nicoll: I'm Emily Nicoll. I am the owner of the record label Aquaregia and a digital artist.

OpenSea: You describe Aquaregia as both a record label and a visual world. Does the music shape the art, or is it the other way around? How does that relationship work?

Emily Nicoll: For Aquaregia, the music definitely shapes the art. Whenever I'm creating, I'm always listening to music, whether it's for my personal art practice or for the label. All the cover work on Aquaregia is part of one project for me, and the art is always influenced by the music. I try to visualize what comes to mind when I listen, and all the Aquaregia covers share a singular aesthetic. In my personal art practice, I'm also always listening to music, especially hypnotic acid techno, and I try to visualize that in my work.

OpenSea: Tell me about the record label. How did it come about?

Emily Nicoll: I started Aquaregia ten years ago. Our ten-year anniversary is coming up this December [2025]. I really wanted to create a platform to share the music I love. The first releases were from 747, who worked with me on the Art Blocks project. It was also an outlet for my visual art at the time, and it was the main place where I shared my art before discovering NFTs.

OpenSea: How did you get into NFTs in the first place? What was your entry point?

Emily Nicoll: I first discovered NFTs in 2020 and started collecting in 2021. I found out about them during the pandemic, like a lot of people did. The music industry was shut down. I had been living in Berlin, but we moved back to Toronto, and the music industry was at a standstill. That's when I found digital art. I had followed a lot of digital artists on Instagram and social media, and I started seeing them post about crypto art. That was my entry into the space.

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OpenSea: You’re also an artist yourself. In your work Whimsies, you use AI to explore emotion through flowers and floral forms. What drew you to the theme of merging nature with technology?

Emily Nicoll: Almost all of my art merges nature and digital aspects, blending analog and digital. I try to create a duality between hard and soft elements, both in my work with Aquaregia and in my personal projects.

OpenSea: Can you tell us about your most recent project?

Emily Nicoll: My most recent project was Pacific Spirit, which was released on Art Blocks. Pacific Spirit is both an album on my record label and a generative art project. The 300 generative outputs were all printed as unique cover art for the vinyl record and distributed globally.

OpenSea: You work as an artist, DJ, and label founder. Do these identities feel separate to you, or do they feel like one merged, multifaceted thing?

Emily Nicoll: My work as an artist, label manager, and DJ all flow together. They're all inspired by music first and explore similar themes. The music on the label is techno, which is often considered a rigid, hard genre, but the music we release is soft, melodic, and pretty techno. That same vibe is in my art as well. I use digital technologies, which are often seen as inhuman, but I try to make them soft, exploring the contrast between the two.

OpenSea: Why does that contrast feel emotionally resonant to you right now?

Emily Nicoll: Combining hard and soft elements is a way to escape certain feelings. There's always a kind of rigidity in life, and I think trying to soften things and make them less serious is always a good thing.

OpenSea: You’ve moved from photography to 3D modeling to AI. You use all these different technologies in your work. How do you decide when a new tool or technology is worth exploring?

Emily Nicoll: The tools I use for my work vary. I mainly use Photoshop as the final place where I put everything together, but I create all my own source material using different technologies. Photography was the main thing I used in my early work. I've also used drawings and paintings, and more recently, I've been exploring generative and algorithmic art, as well as AI. Whenever there's a new technology, I like to play with it. Trying new things is always fun, and I enjoy finding new ways to bring them into my practice. The final processing is always the same, but I use new ways to create the source material.

OpenSea: What does it mean to be in Marfa as part of this weekend?

Emily Nicoll: This is my third year in Marfa, and every year is special. This is my first year attending as an Art Blocks artist rather than just a collector. It's been special to see it through that lens and reconnect with all the friends I've made over the years here.

OpenSea: Thank you. 

Emily Nicoll: Thank you so much. 

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