Toronto’s shared space

Echoing both the towering structures of downtown skyscrapers and a forest of trees, Mary Mattingly’s Second Shade combines lush greenery and repurposed construction materials to make a unique 20ft tall urban canopy, showcasing the cooling potential of green roofs, soft landscaping, and responsive architecture.

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. 

Artist duo Celeste’s majestic, quilted canopy casts welcomed shade down to a seating area below, offering relief from the heat and a space for gathering. Like a suncatcher, Casting a Net, Casting a Spell embraces and harnesses the sun, weaving in archetypes that have surrounded the sun since ancient times. 

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.

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.

A flock of 50 trees in shopping carts playfully travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces. Follow their eight-week journey throughout the city – from The Bentway, to YZD at Downsview, to the Waterfront – enjoying pop-up readings and performances along the way.