Category: Softer City

Showing 22 results for Softer City

Learn to Play Dominoes

Come play dominoes with us! Whether it’s your all-time favourite game or something you’re keen to try for the first time, all are welcome at this neighbourhood gathering. Join us under the Gardiner for some friendly game time ahead of our city-scale Dominoes run on September 22.

A same-sex couple walks hand-in-hand
Walking Holding: Portrait Series

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What happens when we open our hands to each other in public? Toronto photographer Kirk Lisaj captured portraits of the participant pairings in Walking:Holding, in moments of softness and vulnerability.

A trail of large-scale dominoes falls through a busy intersection
Dominoes

Dominoes brings together Torontonians in a joyful act of community-building, as 8,000 human-sized dominoes weave and fall along an epic 2.5km journey through downtown neighbourhoods. (Powered by Choice Properties as Presenting Sponsor)

We Are Here

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We Are Here is a mural project by HeART Lab, with art by Amanda Lederle. In a time of increasing social isolation in Toronto, the viewer is invited to think about public space and the ways that it can help to support connections to other people.

Softer City Curators’ Tour: May 25

Be the first to explore our Softer City outdoor exhibition by joining a curators’ tour on opening weekend. Learn about the inspiration behind the exhibition theme and come see how Softer City invites artists, architects, and designers to explore new approaches to social connection and soft encounters in our city.

Walking:Holding

May 25, 2024 to May 26, 2024

Walking:Holding is a unique, experiential performance that invites audience members (one at a time) on a guided walk through the neighbourhood, where they encounter and hold hands with a series of people along the way. Rosana Cade’s project embraces social connections between strangers, illuminating how identity, intimacy, hypervisibility, and vulnerability intersect in public space.

Softer City

April 25, 2024

In an increasingly hard city, how do we soften the barriers that separate us? The Bentway’s summer public art exhibition invites you to a series of soft encounters, where “softness” is embraced as a collective strategy for building a socially connected city.

A yoga teacher poses with prayer-hands at a park under the highway
Yoga with Adriene, presented by The Bentway

July 6, 2024. 10:00am (Timed Entry)

The Bentway welcomes wellness icon Adriene Mishler of Yoga with Adriene for her first-ever live event in Canada! The YouTube superstar has inspired millions of people around the world to practice yoga from the comfort of their homes. Now, join Adriene and thousands of Torontonians live on July 6 for this unforgettable communal outdoor yoga class (co-hosted with Fort York).

Softer City: Freestyle Socials

Join Athony Morgan and Aaron Fitzpatrick for their signature hilarious social game, Freestyle Socials. The game is simple! Through yes or no questions, share ideas and experiences about community and connection. There’s sure to be lots of laughter and you might even make a new friend!

Softer City Curators’ Tours

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Be the first to explore our Softer City outdoor exhibition by joining a curators’ tour on opening weekend. Learn about the inspiration behind the exhibition theme and come see how Softer City invites artists, architects, and designers to explore new approaches to social connection and soft encounters in our city.

Summer Opening Night Party (2024)

A fabulous party to kick-off summer in the city! Mix, mingle, and dance under the Gardiner as The Bentway’s new public art exhibition Softer City officially opened. The evening culminated with a massive collective performance led by local queer line dancing icons, SPURS.

Roller Skate Parties

June 14, July 12, August 16, September 27, 2024.

Meet us under the Gardiner for our monthly Roller Skate Parties! Expect live DJs, your favourite food trucks, and awesome Hippie Market vendors. Our friends at SUSO Skate will have gear rentals available too. These will be summer nights to remember!

Tracings

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How can we show care for our infrastructure and, by extension, for each other? Nico Williams applied “patches” (made with woven fabric and jingle cones) to the Gardiner’s concrete columns, incorporating traditional Indigenous regalia designs. These soft interventions add joy, beauty, and a caring touch to the Expressway.

Holding Space

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Nnenna Okore uses scaffolding, pipe, and Ankara – a versatile and iconic African fabric that embodies a deep sense of identity and community – to create a new space for human connection. Vibrant fabric hues weave around the Gardiner’s hard edges, softening the concrete infrastructure.

A couple lounges on colourful woven furniture facing into a park
Soft Fits

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Few public spaces are designed with teenagers in mind. For Soft Fits, Brooklyn’s WIP Collaborative worked with local youth to create a playful lounge-scape under the trees at the edge of The Bentway Studio Terrace facing Canoe Landing Park.

Wind Ensemble

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Brightly coloured windsocks dance overhead while windchimes echo throughout, picking up the movement of the wind and the energy of the city. Toronto-based artist Heather Nicol invites you to add your voice to this chorus, to pause and connect to your surroundings and one another.

Perspective Alignment

On view now

Chloë Bass’ sculptural benches, formed from solid Ontario rock and engraved with poetic reflections, welcome visitors to sit alongside a friend (or stranger) and consider the difficult but necessary work of softening our perspectives towards one another through empathy and care.

Beading Workshop at The Bentway

June 22, 2024. Times: 12pm-2pm and 3pm-5pm

Join a community beading circle inspired by Nico Williams’s project Tracings, a series of large-scale Indigenous regalia designs installed under the Gardiner. Learn about basic beading techniques and the role that beading plays in healing practices in many communities.

Weekly Drawing Socials

Every Wednesday from June 5 to September 25, 2024.

Looking for a fun night out with a creative twist? Join us at the Bentway Studio (facing Canoe Landing Park) on Wednesday evenings for weekly Drawing Socials. No previous drawing experience? No problem! Our artist facilitators will help you try something new, and meet your neighbours, while learning drawing techniques.