The Bentway & Exhibition Place announce Petal and Stone, new mural by Rebecca Munce
August 21, 2025
The Bentway and Exhibition Place reveal plans for 10,000 sq ft public art project by Canadian artist Rebecca Munce, transforming a new stretch of the Gardiner into an urban storyboard
The Bentway ‘takes to the water’ this September
August 7, 2025
Join the canoe procession: 500 Volunteers invited to bring an unprecedented artwork to life, and co-create with renowned artist Melissa McGill.
A Lake Story
Sep 27 & 28, 2025. Procession at 11am & 4pm
A procession of over one hundred canoes moves in unison across Toronto’s eastern Waterfront on September 27/28, each carrying colour field paintings made with pigments sourced from the lake/shoreline and activated by the wind. A Lake Story will articulate Lake Ontario’s colour story across the sky and water, amplifying the lake’s own voices of vibrancy, ecosystem, and community.
Moving Forest @ The Bentway Skate Trail
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See you under our smaller pop up canopy of 10 trees at the Bentway Skate Trail, from July 20 until the end of our summer season! These 10 trees were part of a flock of 50 trees in shopping carts that travelled throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
The Bentway co-commissions a new work by media artist Quayola, premiering this weekend at Italy’s Videocittà festival
July 2, 2025
Set to close out our Sun/Shade program this October, this debut international collaboration will dazzle visitors with an immersive night-time solar experience. The Bentway is proud to announce a landmark partnership with Videocittà, Rome’s celebrated festival dedicated to video and digital culture, through the co-commissioning of a major new artwork by Italian artist Quayola. SOLAR […]
From Milkweed to Monarchs
Did you know that monarch butterflies migrate 4,800km each year from Canada to Mexico? Join us for this hands-on workshop to learn how milkweed plants help support this journey with presented with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority!
Beautiful Native Plants
Why is it so important to re-plant native plants across Toronto? Come find out at this hands-on workshop with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority!
Toronto’s Summer Forecast? More Art Workshops, Roller Skating, and Urban Canopy Parades
June 17, 2025
The Bentway’s summer 2025 programming is in full swing and we are excited to announce that tickets are available for our events in July, August, and September! Spend some time in your community and meet us under the Gardiner for workshops, parades, parties, and more.
A Giant Sand Dune is Appearing Under the Gardiner this week
June 9, 2025
Experience the world premiere of Sand Flight, from choreographer Ingri Fiksdal and theatre director Jonas Corell Petersen. Eight dancers and a 50-person choir descend on a massive sand dune under the Gardiner Expressway for a powerful performance that speculates on climates-to-come, where shade-worshipping becomes a new tradition. Sand FlightA new creation by Ingri Fiksdal and Jonas Corell […]
Sun & Shade take centre stage at The Bentway this summer
April 14, 2025
The Bentway’s summer 2025 programming explores sun as a creative collaborator, shade as a new essential resource, and brings back visitor-favourites like roller skating.
Moving Forest @ Harbourfront Centre
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See you at the Harbourfront Centre, July 14 to July 20! A flock of 50 trees in shopping carts travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
Moving Forest @ Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre
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See you at the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre, July 7 to July 11! A flock of 50 trees in shopping carts travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
Moving Forest @ The Bentway Studio Terrace
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See you on the Studio Terrace, June 17 to July 4! A flock of 50 trees in shopping carts travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
Moving Forest @ YZD
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See you at YZD, May 23 to June 15! A flock of 50 trees in shopping carts travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
Moving Forest @ The Bentway Skate Trail
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See you at the Bentway Skate Trail, May 23 to May 24! A flock of 50 trees in shopping carts travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
Sun/Shade Curators’ Tours
May 24 & 25, 2:00pm-3:30pm. June 19, July 17, August 21, 6:30pm – 8:00pm.
Go behind the scenes of our Sun/Shade outdoor art exhibition by joining a curators’ tour with The Bentway’s Programming team. Learn about the inspiration behind the season, the creation of each artwork, and how they fit together. Sun/Shade explores new ways of collaborating with the sun, as well as the importance of shade, in our urban spaces.
Sun/Shade Opening Night Party
Get ready to feel the heat at the summer’s coolest party! Join The Bentway, Fashion Art Toronto, and Canada’s Drag Race’s Jada Shada Hudson under the Gardiner for a Sunglasses at Night fashion show, celebrating the opening of The Bentway’s latest outdoor art exhibition. Runway shy? Come dance, mingle, and enjoy the show!
Sand Flight
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Experience the world premiere of Sand Flight, from internationally renowned choreographer Ingri Fiksdal. Eight dancers and a 50-person choir descend on a massive sand dune under the Gardiner Expressway for a powerful performance that speculates on climates-to-come, where shade-worshipping becomes a new tradition.
Moving Forest
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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.
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.
Bathed in Strange Light
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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.
Declaration of the Understory
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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.
Casting a Net, Casting a Spell
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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.
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.