There’s more than one way to experience Nuit Blanche at The Bentway.
As the city comes alive after dark, explore a constellation of public art experiences across The Bentway and beyond. From the Skate Trail to the Bentway Staging Grounds, Choice Properties’ West Block, and a new pilot site along the waterfront, there’s plenty to see, and just a short walk apart. Start planning your Nuit Blanche adventure and discover something new around every corner.
Public Trust
Paul Ramírez Jonas
The Bentway (250 Fort York Blvd)
How serious are the promises we make to one another, the vows we take, or the pledges made by our civic leaders?
Paul Ramírez Jonas’ Public Trust asks participants to examine the value of their word. Participants declare a promise that is recorded in a drawing they can keep. They are asked to give their word in a way that is consistent with their beliefs, such as swearing on a sacred text or an object significant to their city. That promise is then published on a large-scale marquee board, placed alongside promises made by politicians, scientists, economists, companies, and weather forecasters, all drawn daily from headline news.
As our city approaches its municipal election, the work invites reflection on civic participation and the promise of the democratic process itself. Torontonians of all ages are invited to make promises to themselves, to one another, and to the city they share.
Supporters:
- Waterfront BIA
- Government of Ontario
- Toronto Foundation
- Michael MacMillan and Cathy Spoel
- Jen Grant and David Dattels
Make the World Go Round
Caitlin Taguibao
Bentway Skate Trail (250 Fort York Blvd)
Toronto-based illustrator and muralist Caitlin Taguibao brings the city to life with Make the World Go Round, a vibrant mural installation wrapping the columns of the Bentway Skate Trail. The artwork unfolds as a flowing portrait of life in the city featuring people dancing, skating along the trail, sharing food, playing sports, and gathering near the lake.
Everyday city scenes merge magically with moments of fandom: jerseys appear in a crowd, faces are painted, costumes add colour and joy. Together, these figures reflect how Toronto celebrates—through play, culture, and connection—carrying the spirit of gathering well beyond the festival itself.
The Bentway Skate Trail will be open for skaters to enjoy, and an exciting 2-for-1 roller skate rental promotion will be available while supplies last, brought to you by Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Roller Skate equipment rentals will be available 7:00pm to 12:00am (last rental 11:00pm). Learn more about Roller Skate Rentals
The Bentway’s summer creative, cultural, and recreational programs are made possible by the generous support of:
- Hatch
- Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund (OCAF)
- TD
- Government of Ontario
- Oxford Properties
- Lead Hotel Partner: Hotel X
A Persistent Crossing
Stanzie Tooth
Bentway Staging Grounds (44 Dan Leckie Way)
In this final commission at Bentway Staging Grounds, Tooth creates a series of images that function as thresholds between the rigid world of Toronto’s industrial grid and the fluid resilience of its urban ecology. Extending her investigation of the figure-ground relationship from the scale of paper to public architecture, the work wraps three sides of the site’s scaffolding towers, inviting viewers to reconsider themselves not as the focal point of the urban landscape but as part of its intricate ecological fabric.
Across the large-scale images, large human silhouettes appear as open spaces filled with native Ontario vegetation and shifting skies. These absent figures act as windows into an alternative landscape within the human body, suggesting a porous boundary between people and place where the figure and ground continually shift. Imagery of local pollinators—including the Luna moth, Cecropia moth, and Monarch butterfly—grounds the work in the ecologies of both the site and southern Ontario. Moving between bright daytime scenes and indigo night skies, Tooth stages the daily urban rhythms of the city underneath the Gardiner Expressway.
Together, these images position the site itself as a threshold between the built and the natural worlds, encouraging viewers to recognize that nature is not something separate from urban life, but a living presence woven through it.
Generously supported by J.P. Bickell Foundation
Social Fabric: A Community Textile Activation
SHEEEP Studio
West Block, Choice Properties (500 Lakeshore Blvd W)
A living artwork unfolds at West Block with Social Fabric, a large-scale participatory installation inspired by the textile traditions and visual language of Iranian rug making found in Anahita Akhavan’s recent mural commission, مجلس Majles / Sitting Room, presented at the West Block staircases earlier this summer.
Drawing on motifs and patterns found in Akhavan’s artwork, participants use simple acts of weaving and social connection to stitch together our social fabric. Developed by SHEEEP Studio, this installation invites all ages to become co-creators, assembling colourful fabric elements together. Their collective effort grows throughout the night to create a monumental textile composition.
Spanning the staircase landing and gathering areas, the final artwork becomes a vivid record of the many hands that shape it. Local facilitators guide visitors through the process, creating an opportunity to experience textile-making as a living, shared practice that connects people across generations and cultures at West Block.
Curated by The Bentway and presented in partnership with Choice Properties.
Public Pier
Marina Quay West (539 Queens Quay W)
Public Pier is a collaborative public realm pilot exploring the potential of an underutilized waterfront site as a new destination for public life, arts, and culture. Open for extended hours during Nuit Blanche, from October 3 at 1pm to October 4 at 2am, Public Pier will come to life with day-to-night experiences including vendor shops, music, food and beverage, public art, and Silo Nights, a landmark projection program on the Canada Malting Silos, which will animate the site and surroundings. These experiences will explore how programming can bring people to the site and encourage them to enjoy the waterfront in new ways, as well as help shape the pier’s evolution into a future public park and cultural platform.
Public Pier is a collaboration between The Bentway, Harbourfront Centre, OCAD University, and the Waterfront BIA, the project is supported by the Toronto Port Authority as lead sponsor.
