Bentway By Night: Nuit Blanche 2026
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There’s more than one way to experience Nuit Blanche at The Bentway.
Social Fabric: A Community Textile Activation
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Drawing on the textile traditions reflected in Anahita Akhavan’s new mural, West Block becomes a place for shared making. Working with SHEEEP Studio, visitors of all ages will assemble textiles throughout the afternoon, gathering colour, pattern, and the gestures of many hands.
Decomposition No. 7: Undergrowth
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Projected onto the Canada Malting Silos, this immersive artwork transforms street-tree data into light and sound, revealing the interconnected rhythms of Toronto’s urban forest. A living portrait of slow, ongoing growth, it invites us to imagine the city not as it is, but as it could become.
Artist Talk with Paul Ramírez Jonas
To mark the Canadian premiere of Public Trust, join acclaimed artist Paul Ramírez Jonas in conversation with The Bentway’s Director of Programming Anna Gallagher-Ross about his imaginative body of work and his long-time engagement with democracy, participation, and the public realm.
Public Trust
Sep 15 to Oct 4, 2026
Torontonians are invited to make promises to themselves and their community—not just as inhabitants of the city, but as co-authors of its future. In a welcoming, non-partisan space, Public Trust reimagines civic engagement as something personal, accessible, and joyful.
Beacons
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Inspired by her own experience as a newcomer to Canada, Shellie Zhang’s Beacons glows with the dusk and dawn-time colours of Toronto’s skyline in winter, a reminder of the passage of time, and the warmth we draw from our community during these dark, frozen months.
Directions to Nowhere in Particular
Summer 2021
Directions to Nowhere in Particular is a game of chance that alters the ways you sense, make, and navigate public space. Anyone can play. Simply go outside, pick a random prompt, and follow the directions for interacting with your surroundings.
A Collective Sensemaking Session
Join The Bentway, From Later, and residents for the launch of the Field Guide to Digital and/as Public Space!
A Settler’s Land Acknowledge-ment: Public Space is Colonized Space
As a responsive creator investigating the power of Touch, choreographer Karen Kaeja is curious about what we can touch and cannot touch, and what is seen and unseen in public territory. In a raw live-stream performance that is intimate and up close, the presence and harmony of three womxn of different identities address public safety.
To Be Safe in our Skin
November 2020
As a responsive creator investigating the power of Touch, choreographer Karen Kaeja is curious about what we can touch and cannot touch, and what is seen and unseen in public territory. In a raw live-stream performance that is intimate and up close, the presence and harmony of three womxn of different identities address public safety.
Safe in Public Space: A Photo Essay
Summer 2020
Ebti Nabag travels beyond The Bentway to examine how ideas of safety manifest and are communicated in public space through borders and boundaries, signs and symbols, public space architectures, and delineations.
The Bentway as Hostile Architecture
Summer 2020
A call to reinvest the work’s production budget into community initiatives by establishing aid networks to disseminate resources to local affinity groups.
Receipts
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A multimodal interface that receives, anonymizes, archives, and performs testimonies to anti-Asian aggression in public space. Viewable on The Bentway site from October 16 – November 11, 2020.
Gardiner Gateways
On view as of May 21, 2026
New lighting at Dan Leckie Way and Bathurst Street brightens key crossings, improves walkability, and illuminates a pedestrian-friendly future under the Gardiner.
Radical Love: A Digital Exhibition
Summer 2020
A multimedia installation that centres Black and Afro-Indigenous Trans women and non-binary people, creating monuments to Trans lives and their survival.
Textiles: Felted & Embroidered Pins
Learn how to “draw” with textiles this summer! Using needle felting, stitching, and other creative embellishments, design your own unique, wearable button. You’ll learn how to work with wool roving, and some simple embroidery stitches that are useful for adding lines, dimension, and artistic expression.
Watercolour Painting: Toronto Skies
Capture all the colours of our city’s beautiful summer skies in this 2-hour watercolour painting workshop.
You’ll learn an essential watercolour technique and then practice by painting a sunrise or sunset, completing it with a skyline of your favourite Toronto neighbourhood or public space.
Printmaking: Letterpress Postcards from Toronto
This workshop will be something to write home about! Print your own letterpress postcards using two antique platen presses set up with an image and text. Learn about traditional typesetting from wood and metal type, how it was used historically and how it can still be used today. Add colour to your image and write on your postcard to share your favourite memory of your Toronto summer with a friend or loved one.
Collage: ReExpressway Edition
This summer, Collage Grad is inspired by The Bentway’s vibrant public space under the Gardiner Expressway! This monthly session explores art, urbanism, and placemaking through collage. Work with a curated mix of archival photos of Toronto, urban planning publications, and vintage magazines to express your own take on citybuilding and create your own reimagined built environment.
Art Socials
Tuesdays from Jun 2 to Aug 25, 2026.
Trade your usual night out for an evening of creative experimentation and social connection! Our weekly beginner-friendly Art Socials invite you to try hands-on creative techniques like miniatures, screen printing, and watercolour in a relaxed, social setting. Come solo or with friends, and leave with something you made yourself!
Textiles: Bag Charms
Join the World Cup fever and make a leather tassel bag charm to represent your your favourite team in this workshop. No matter what country you’re rooting for, we’ve got you covered. Wear them to the stadium, put them on your bag, or rub them for good luck while you watch from home.
Textiles: Felted & Embroidered Pins
Learn how to “draw” with textiles this summer! Using needle felting, stitching, and other creative embellishments, design your own unique, wearable button. You’ll learn how to work with wool roving, and some simple embroidery stitches that are useful for adding lines, dimension, and artistic expression.