The Space of Belonging

On the occasion of Nuit Blanche 2024, The Bentway renews the monumental Staging Grounds scaffolding towers with a new work by Andrea Heimer that explores urban loneliness and the actions we can take as a city to move closer to one another. 

Nestled in the dense CityPlace neighbourhood, Heimer’s work negotiates the tensions of a community living in close proximity to one another but where social isolation is still highly prevalent.  

Her drawings centre on a collection of anonymous figures engaged in the messy acts of conflict and resolution, movement and stasis, concealing and sharing. Despite the crowded nature of Heimer’s canvases, each figure stands alone, at once an integral part of the community and yet highly individualized. Together these figures acknowledge the challenges of the contemporary condition but, alongside it, our universal desire for belonging. 

This is Heimer’s first public art commission. As a mirror to the community in which it is housed, The Space of Belonging underscores a common desire for cohesion in an increasingly divisive world and highlights the importance of public space as a platform for social connection. 

Over the duration of the Staging Grounds project, The Bentway will commission artists to present original, rotating artworks on the scaffolding towers that line the site facing Lake Shore Blvd.