Guided by the exhibiting artists, this tour visits two new artworks shaped by CityPlace’s layered histories and rhythms. Experience the inaugural Step-Up Series mural which threads vivid colour and narrative into the architecture of West Block, and celebrate Staging Ground’s final chapter, evoking our place in a collective urban ecology.
Join us on a walking tour beneath the Gardiner Expressway to experience two vibrant new public artworks, Anahita Akhavan’s multidimensional mural مجلس Majles / Sitting Room at West Block and Stanzie Tooth’s large-scale installation A Persistent Crossing at Bentway Staging Grounds.
This guided experience, led by members of The Bentway team as well as the artists, invites you to gather, explore, and connect across the neighbourhood. The tour begins at The Bentway Studio (55 Fort York Blvd) before continuing on foot through CityPlace. Visitors will first arrive at a newly unveiled installation at by Stanzie Tooth at Bentway Staging Grounds (under the Gardiner at Dan Leckie Way & Lake Shore Blvd W). The artwork invites viewers to reconsider themselves not as the centre of the urban landscape, but as part of its ecological fabric, reminding us that nature is not separate from urban life but woven through it.
The tour will then continue to West Block (500 Lakeshore Boulevard West) where Anahita Akhavan’s expansive new mural transforms the site’s staircases and courtyard with vivid colour, rhythm, and layered narratives surrounding Iran’s textile history. Carried across borders and generations, its rug work holds important social values and cultural memories within their threads. Akhavan’s work is the inaugural commission in the new Step-Up Series, an annual opportunity at West Block, curated by The Bentway and presented in partnership with Choice Properties.
These works by two Toronto-based artists invite reflection on the city as an interconnected fabric, where people, nature, and culture are continually interwoven. Joined by the exhibiting artists, The Bentway curators will share insight into the work’s development and the ways it responds to the site’s histories, daily movement, and evolving public life. Part guided tour, part celebration, this event welcomes neighbours, collaborators, and curious visitors alike to walk, reflect, and share in this exciting moment for public art in CityPlace.
What to expect:
- The approximate distance of the walking tour is 1km. The route is wheelchair accessible. Please dress accordingly in appropriate footwear. For questions about accessibility at this event, please email us: [email protected]
- Universal and all-gender washrooms are available on site at The Bentway Studio before the tour.
- This event will happen rain or shine. The majority of the route is covered by the Gardiner Expressway above.
- Public seating is accessible along the route.
- Photography, video, and audio recording will occur. By participating in any Bentway Step-Up Series activities, you consent to such recording and to the release, publication, exhibition or reproduction of these recordings and photographs by The Bentway or Choice Properties.
مجلس Majles / Sitting Room by Anahita Akhavan is curated by The Bentway and presented in partnership with Choice Properties.
