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.
Second Shade
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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.
Art Socials: August 20
Try your hand at watercolour painting with local artist Sarah Aranha. You’ll learn some basic watercolour techniques and then put them into practice by painting watercolour postcards inspired by The Bentway’s seasonal theme Sun/Shade.
Memory Work
On display May 1, 2022 onwards
Situated at the western entrance to The Bentway, Memory Work is a mural made up of twelve embellished photographic portraits of revolutionary women and non-binary figures from a future Toronto. Initiated by studio From Later with artist Rajni Perera and Memory Work Collective, this speculative monument imagines a city characterized by collective care and politics that value nurturing over growth.
Resurfacing
On view at Exhibition Place Sep 12 - Dec 4, at The Bentway Skate Trail Dec 21 - Feb 17
Reflecting on a highway undergoing major renewal, Resurfacing layers, tears, weaves, and folds striking images of the Gardiner Expressway’s many transformations over time – including the major repair work currently happening now. Co-presented with (and presented off-site at) Exhibition Place.
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 and have a chance to plant your own! Learn about our experimental gardens at Bentway Staging Grounds and the opportunities of urban ecology.
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! At Bentway Staging Grounds, an experimental garden under the Gardiner Expressway, we’ve planted sunflowers, wild ginger, ferns, and paw-paw trees. These plants are already filtering run-off water and helping bring bees and birds back to the area!
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.
Dominoes
In 2024, Dominoes brought 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.
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.
Public Curator Talk by Mariam Zulfiqar
Public Curator Talk by Mariam Zulfiqar as part of At the Transit Bar: An International Visiting Curators Series. Co-presented by the Art Gallery of York University and The Bentway.
Walking:Holding: May 26
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.
Walking:Holding: May 25
May 25, 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 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.
Softer City Curators’ Tour: May 26
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 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.
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.
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.