Documentary Screening: A Lake Story

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After the on-water performance, gather at Harbourfront Centre’s Concert Stage during Nuit Blanche for a celebration of A Lake Story. Enjoy a documentary chronicling the project’s creative journey, see the wind-activated colour field paintings up close, and honour the community partners, paddlers, and artists who brought this story to life.

Light beams shooting out from ground and fanning out towards the sky, directed by a robotic arm at SOLAR, a new immersive art installation at The Bentway in Toronto

SOLAR

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A mesmerizing encounter with light transforms the Gardiner into a glowing horizon. Guided by a robotic arm and synchronized beams, SOLAR performs a spectacle of sunset by merging the sun’s rhythms with digital choreography to create an immersive experience of light and motion.

Render of Petal and Stone, a 10,000 sq foot mural with swirling turquoise and blue patterns.
Petal and Stone

October 2025 – 2027

A 10,000 square-foot mural project inaugurates the Gardiner Wallworks series, transforming this concrete expanse into a poetic tableau of site memory, native flora, and symbolic passage. Inspired by the architecture and ecological communities bridging The Bentway and Exhibition Place, it offers commuters and residents an evocative new lens on their urban landscape.

Mural depicting six portraits of women of colour.
Memory Work  

On display May 1, 2022 onwards

Situated at the western entrance to The Bentway, Memory Work is a mural made up of twelve embellished photographic portraits of revolutionary women and non-binary figures from a future Toronto. Initiated by studio From Later with artist Rajni Perera and Memory Work Collective, this speculative monument imagines a city characterized by collective care and politics that value nurturing over growth.

An intersection under an urban highway is painted blue; maintenance equipment have been converted into bright, friendly characters with "googly eyes" overlooking passers-by
Waterfront ReConnect: Boom Town

On view now

Boom Town employs vibrant colour, playful characters, and environmental lighting to enliven the York Street intersection, improving safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.

Pedestrians explore a colourful wall under an expressway.
Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story

On view now

Pixel Story references the multitude of vantages, scales, speeds, and distances at which to view the Expressway, enticing passersby to move forward towards the waterfront, or pause to reflect on its diverse stories.

Bentway Staging Grounds

On view now

Bentway Staging Grounds is a site of active, environmental learning that continues The Bentway’s creative work along the Gardiner Expressway. Visitors are invited into a living laboratory for urban ecology, with experimental gardens that use rainwater run-off from the highway above to support the growth of flowering plant species.

Cool Spots: Remapping a Hotter Toronto

Submit your Cool Spot now until September!

Discover and share the places that keep you cool in Toronto! From shaded underpasses to breezy green spaces, your submissions will help shape a growing community map of urban relief and resilience.

la sombra que te cobija / the shadow that shelters you

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A geometric pavilion invites you to cross under the Gardiner, casting both a cooling effect and ornate shadow patterns. Edra Soto’s installation references the shade-making façades of working-class Puerto Rican bungalows to create an expansive, sun-filtering threshold, reflecting on the intersection of heat-responsive architecture, place-making, and cultural heritage. 

Declaration of the Understory

May 23, 2025 to Spring 2026

Secwépemc artist Tania Willard approaches the space below the highway as a tree canopy, reminiscent of the “understory” floor of southern Ontario forests, where pockets of shade and sunlight shape unique ecosystems below. In a stunning mixed-media installation, floral motifs, iridescence, and powerful slogans offer a mediation on the power of shade as a lifeforce.

Bathed in Strange Light

May 23, 2025 to Spring 2026

Working in collaboration with the sun’s rhythms, Natalie Hunter’s photographs on the windows of The Bentway Studio (facing Canoe Landing Park) explore how ever-shifting sunlight shapes our experience of public spaces. As the sun moves throughout the day, translucent images cast down a colorful, slow-moving cinema.

Seeing Celsius

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What happens when we can see heat? By adding thermal-imaging technology to the familiar viewfinder found at scenic lookout points, LeuWebb Projects enables you to see the temperature differences across The Bentway space and the bodies that move through it. It’s a new perspective that will shift how you view urban spaces and the materials that shape them.

visit

The Bentway is active at multiple sites under and near the Gardiner Expressway:

Getting there

250 Fort York Blvd, under the Gardiner

The Bentway Skate Trail is situated on the lands of Fort York National Historic Site, running from just east of the Fort York Visitors Centre to Bastion St.

Find at: bents 83-89

By TTC

511 Bathurst (at Fort York Blvd)
509 Harbourfront (at Fleet St)

A couple walks through a trail under an elevated highway, surrounded by greenery
Children and adults ice skate along a trail, underneath an elevated highway
Parking

Paid parking available @ Green P lots, located at 250 Fort York Blvd and 800 Fleet Street.

Accessibility

This space is fully accessible to mobility devices, with flat paved and wooden decked surfaces. 

Free wifi

Free wifi is provided by Beanfield. Sign onto “Beanfield1hfree” and get one free hour of wifi at The Bentway.

Washroom Hours

Monday and Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday to Sunday: 11:30am – 6:30pm

These hours may be impacted due to special events.

Getting there

250 Fort York Blvd, under the Gardiner

The Bentway Strachan Gate is situated on the lands of Fort York National Historic Site, at Strachan Ave.

Find at: bents 46-50

By TTC

509 Harbourfront (at Fleet St)
63 Ossington (at East Liberty St)
511 Bathurst (at Fort York Blvd)

Parking

Paid parking available @ Green P lots, located at 250 Fort York Blvd and 800 Fleet Street.

Accessibility

This space is partially accessible to mobility devices. In addition to flat and sloped paved surfaces, a large surface is covered in compacted gravel. Washrooms are accessible to mobility devices. Recommended entry to the site: from the east or the south.

Free wifi

Free wifi is provided by Beanfield. Sign onto “Beanfield1hfree” and get one free hour of wifi at The Bentway.

Getting there

55 Fort York Blvd

The Bentway Studio is a mixed indoor/outdoor facility that faces into Canoe Landing Park, just west of Spadina Ave.

Find at: north of bent 116

By TTC

510 Spadina (at Bremner Blvd / Fort York Blvd)

Children practice stilt-walking on an outdoor terrace
An intimate, night-time musical performance underneath twinkly string lights
Parking

Paid parking available at local InPark and Green P lots, and on local streets (including Dan Leckie Way and Housey St).

Accessibility

This space is fully accessible to mobility devices, with flat surfaces. 

Off-Site Projects

In addition to operating permanent public spaces, The Bentway is testing out new ideas for the Gardiner Expressway through a series of temporary shorter-term projects.

Explore these off-site projects here:

Staging Grounds Under Gardiner
Staging Grounds

Viewable 24 hrs/day
Find at: bent #113-117
Under the Gardiner @ Dan Leckie Way

Get directions on Google Maps ->

Pixel Story Under Gardiner
Pixel Story

Viewable 24 hrs/dav
Find at: bents #169-170
Under the Gardiner @ Simcoe Street

Get directions in Google Maps -›

Boom Town Under Gardiner
Boom Town

Viewable 24 hrs/day
Find at: bents #179-182
Under the Gardiner @ York St

Get directions in Google Maps -›