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Toronto Design Offsite Festival, operating under the business name DesignTO.
DesignTO is a registered charity (Charitable Business #: 803833300RR0001).
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2026

Festival Schedule

January 23 – February 1, 2026

DesignTO Festival isn’t just about events, it’s about making real change. Celebrating 16 years of impact, DesignTO brings people together to design a better future that’s sustainable, just, and joyful. As Canada’s largest annual design festival, the 10-day event features 100+ free events and exhibitions, both online and in-person, across Toronto. Most events and exhibitions are free, but some require an RSVP or purchased tickets. All window installations are viewable from the outdoors.

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'A Reflection in Time' transforms the Colinas and Marola ceramic collections by VIÚVA LAMEGO and REPUBLIC OF II BY IV into sculptural landscapes. As viewers move, light subtly shifts their perception, inviting introspection where reflection becomes both visual and inward.
In-person
exhibition
A Reflection in Time
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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An exhibition of botanical drawings, large-scale interactive pieces, and wallpaper by Sève Favre on the allure of invasive plants. In a dystopian future, these super-alien vegetal forms take over cities, becoming the center of cultural, social, and economic life.
In-person
exhibition
A STRANGE BEAUTY
Jan 22
–
Feb 21 2026
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Abajour is a project of lamps created from discarded glass vases left on sidewalks. Their beauty inspired artist Valentin Van Ravestyn to transform them into lamps using 3D-printed mesh shades, adaptive structures that frame each vase’s unique form, revealing its luminous character.
In-person
window installation
Abajour
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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'Look-i-Like' is the shared art and design practice of Christina Zeidler and Deanne Lehtinen. Their exhibition explores upcycled plastics, reframing a ubiquitous disposable material through poetic attention, material experimentation, and questions about value, care, and perception.
In-person
exhibition
Abundant Abundance. Studies in Plastics.
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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'Air Assemblies' surveys Studio Rat’s inflatable, reclaimed plastics sculptures in an immersive installation proposing a new form of soft infrastructure that creatively responds to environmental challenges and material reuse.
In-person
exhibition
Air Assemblies
Jan 22
–
Feb 27 2026
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Explore illumination at the intersection of art, craft, sculpture, and design. 'ALL LIGHT', an immersive exhibition, features 15 Ontario-based artists and light designers, showcasing the creativity, materiality, and technical innovation of our local maker community.
In-person
exhibition
ALL LIGHT
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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Visit Studio Theatre for a panel discussion emerging from the research initiative Craft and the Digital Turn. The conversation will explore the intersection of contemporary craft and digital technologies. Focusing the themes of community, the economic dimensions of craft, and digital
In-person
event: Talk
An Evening of Craft, Digitality, and Critical Reflection: Artist Talks
Jan 29 2026
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Join the TSA and the Arts & Letters Club for a trivia night on the intersection of art and architecture in Toronto!
In-person
event: Games
Art and Architecture Trivia Night
Jan 28 2026
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'Art/Wear: Sneakers and Artists' explores why artists are drawn to working with sneaker brands as a canvas for their creative ideas and bold expressions.
In-person
exhibition
Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists
Oct 03 2024
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Apr 06 2026
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‘Articulated Hides’ explores the techniques of leathercrafting through sculptural form. Stitching, moulding, dyeing have all been done by hand to create a dynamic form across its space.
In-person
window installation
Articulated Hides
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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This exhibition showcases work in the form of textile samples on cloth bags, from a cooperative of textile artists who share studio space in downtown Toronto. Processes such as printing, stitching, embroidery, weaving and the repurposing of materials are included.
In-person
exhibition
Assembly Not Required 3.0: Current Practices from Members of the Contemporary Textile Studio Cooperative
Jan 23
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Feb 15 2026
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'Assembly' is a community-built gallery/gathering space. Visitors can explore installations by Collective Futures’ artists and designers, attend a celebratory event, join art-making and knowledge-building workshops, and contribute to mapping the linkages between cultural and community spaces across Toronto.
In-person
exhibition
Assembly: A holding space for culture
Jan 24
–
Feb 01 2026
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Join Cowley Abbott for a relaxed breakfast preview on January 24th to highlight artworks from our January online auctions. Enjoy coffee, conversation, and wide range of historical and contemporary artworks, perfect for design lovers and art collectors alike.
Hybrid
exhibition
Auction Preview Breakfast
Jan 23
–
Jan 30 2026
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In this workshop, Laura Carwardine will guide you through the process of stitching her Bacon Magnet 3D Embroidery Kit. Enjoy a comfortable social afternoon at the Drake Hotel as you’re stitching and learn about the tactile joys of embroidery.
In-person
event: Workshop
Bacon Embroidery Workshop
Jan 31 2026
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BE/HEALING reflects allowing one’s stillness to allow for the deepest forms of healing. Screen-printed images of intimate moments are paired with the large viynl poetry, inviting reflection and contemplation. Within the gallery, you will find additional screen-printed fabric books.
In-person
window installation
BE/HEALING
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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'Beneath One Sky' is an installation by Asli Alin featuring suspended, cloud-like forms made from colourful, translucent mesh. Each shape is unique, yet connected through layering and spatial dialogue, creating an immersive overhead environment.
In-person
exhibition
Beneath One Sky
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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This exhibition showcases tangible product prototypes co-created with older adults living with dementia at Baycrest Terraces. Featuring work from OCADU second-year Industrial Design students in a Human-Centred Design course shaped through close collaboration and and community engagement.
In-person
exhibition
Beyond Function: An OCADU x Baycrest Exhibition
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Beyond the Surface: Wallpaper in the Digital Age' explores wallpaper as a dynamic art form, merging traditional patterns with contemporary digital techniques. Experience its evolution from background to canvas, celebrating its rich history and envisioning its future in modern design.
Online
exhibition
Beyond the Surface: Wallpaper in the Digital Age
Oct 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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An opportunity for students to engage in conversations with members of the design community while refining their interview, portfolio building and communication skills. Strategies and advice will be shared by all participants to gear students towards design excellence and enrichment.
In-person
event: Workshop
BIPOC Portfolio Collaboration Event 2026
Jan 29 2026
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What does it mean to live in kinship with a river or creek? Through a combination of architecture and art installation, this exhibition invites visitors to engage with Toronto’s hidden waterways, encouraging us to consider rivers as relational beings.
In-person
exhibition
Bodies Of Water
Jan 24
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Feb 01 2026
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The “Chalk Line” serves as the guiding spine for this project: a minimal gesture that defines form, movement, and spatial perception. It explores light in human experience, and how it shapes mood, health, and the experience of both public and intimate spaces.
In-person
window installation
Chalk Line
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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'Close Your Eyes, Heal In A Parallel World' explores the connection between the human spirit and nature through 3D paintings and steel sculptures, inviting viewers into a meditative space of renewal, resilience, and quiet transformation.
In-person
exhibition
Close Your Eyes, Heal In A Parallel World
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Connections' is an immersive installation that encourages us to think about the spaces between one another, physically and metaphorically. We may be strangers, but with mindfulness and reflection we can share a common space of belonging.
In-person
exhibition
Connections
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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'Contemporary Textile Art x Contemporary Design' textile art exhibition enters the new Minimal Toronto showroom, where life and style harmonize through art and design. Experience how textile art blurs boundaries of art, craft and design, to create unique living.
In-person
exhibition
Contemporary Textile Art x Contemporary Design
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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Rollout is celebrating twenty years of dropping the freshest wallcoverings for the Interior Design trade, and we're delighted to invite our friends, colleagues, and curious seekers to join us during DesignTO for a toast to 20 years.
In-person
event: Open Studio
Core Frequencies
Jan 24 2026
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Paula Hartmann's 'Dancing Blossoms' is a kinetic installation composed of delicate paper mobiles. Inspired by the soft, fleeting rhythms of nature, this work invites viewers to pause, breathe, witness the beauty of impermanence, and embrace the renewal.
In-person
exhibition
Dancing Blossoms
Jan 23
–
Jan 24 2026
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This workshop promotes learning and making for speculative design and ideal AI futures. Participants will develop brainstorming and low fidelity prototyping skills (storyboarding, paper prototyping etc), develop computational thinking and experiment with electronic prototyping to build their own inventions.
In-person
event: Workshop
Democratizing AI Futures Through Community Centred Design
Jan 27 2026
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Tour Eventscape’s offices, R&D Fab Lab, and custom manufacturing facilities for a look behind the scenes. Learn how Eventscape, an award-winning architectural fabrication company works with the latest technologies, machinery and materials to create custom features.
In-person
event: Tour
Design + Fabrication Shop Tours
Jan 27
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Jan 28 2026
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Join the public opening and industry meet-up for design collection @ STACKT on Saturday, January 24 from 730pm at STACKT market.
In-person
event: Reception
design collection @ STACKT Launch Party
Jan 24 2026
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‘Design Hustle’ is a candid, cross-generational exploration of contemporary design practice, through conversation with Arancha González Bernardo, Pat Hanson, and Paul Lee.
In-person
event: Talk
Design Hustle: what masters and new voices teach each other
Jan 27 2026
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A group of designers and design boosters discuss how approaches to living with local design have evolved to meet a growing, “elbows up” enthusiasm, and where homegrown architecture, interiors and housewares are headed next.
In-person
event: Talk
Design in Canada Now
Jan 28 2026
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Join us for the official 2026 DesignTO Launch Party at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, as we kick off our 16th Festival and celebrate DesignTO’s legacy of showcasing and sparking vital conversations about design’s role in shaping a better world.
In-person
event: Party
DesignTO Launch Party 2026
Jan 23 2026
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‘Within the Weave’ is a conversation tracing the meeting points of material and memory. This panel will bring together artists who explore how fragments of personal and environmental histories can be gathered and transformed into new, interconnected wholes.
In-person
event: Talk
DesignTO Talks: Within the Weave
Feb 01 2026
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‘DesignTO Tours: hollis+morris’ provides an opportunity to take a deep dive into the 14,000 square foot Toronto production studio of hollis+morris, where furniture and lighting are designed, prototyped, manufactured and showcased on-site.
In-person
event: Tour
DesignTO Tours: hollis+morris
Jan 30 2026
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This walking tour invites you to explore artworks that reflect ongoing dialogues between artist, object, and environment. Moving through the neighbourhood, you’ll encounter works that have been added to and layered over time, highlighting how material practice becomes a vessel for memory, care, and interconnection.
In-person
event: Tour
DesignTO Tours: Material Memory
Jan 25 2026
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'Dollhouse/Architectural Model' is an installation at Lightform by Rachael Wong involving form, colour, and space. It playfully contemplates and confuses titles and assumptions, outside and inside, domestic and commercial. Scale and pattern investigate these ideas through material, perception, and place.
In-person
window installation
Dollhouse/ Architectural Model
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Domus Nexus' explores what home means through an immersive installation of a physical house that encourages interactivity, exploration, and discovery. The exhibition is the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration between six Humber Polytechnic students and two creative producers.
In-person
exhibition
Domus Nexus
Jan 07
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Feb 01 2026
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This piece blends together two artists' interests in Newfoundland’s architecture and landscape to produce a custom art piece comprised of 27 mirrors; the mirrors are adorned with floral wallpapers, traditional paint colours, and symbols used in the decoration of vernacular buildings.
In-person
exhibition
Drawed’ Through
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Drifting' presents speculative architectural models and illustrated diagrams of an Urban Healing Space Framework; this includes street-level snapshots from Hong Kong open spaces and oral histories with photo markups reflecting land-based healing learned from Indigenous communities, braided through a Two-Eyed Seeing lens.
In-person
exhibition
Drifting
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Drop Ceiling' implements an open-source hardware and software system to transform ubiquitous office lighting panels into an interactive installation. It responds to the movement and position of people on the sidewalk using data from a LIDAR sensor array.
In-person
window installation
Drop Ceiling
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Dying.exhibit' 2026 (Jan 24–Feb 7 2026, Youngplace, Toronto) will present a series of participatory and interactive pieces that engage the public by inviting interaction and provoking visitors to think about their relationship with life and death through art and design.
In-person
exhibition
Dying.exhibit
Jan 24
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Feb 07 2026
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For this window installation, Laura Carwardine created colourful embroidered ovals which were digitally fabricated and then hand stitched with rope. These ovals are a physical exploration of Laura’s interests in both colour palettes and magnified embroidery.
In-person
window installation
Embroidered Colour Palette
Jan 23
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Feb 08 2026
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'Encapsulation' is a new series of purposeful objects made from daily waste, encapsulated and sealed in a mix of cardboard pulp, sawdust and clay. This window installation shows recent pieces, as a result of ongoing research on waste reduction and transformation.
In-person
window installation
Encapsulation
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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The Ensemble collective returns to the plumb gallery with a new group exhibition. This edition features expansive scenography that radically transforms the space, offering a bold setting that reimagines how design pieces and artworks can be experienced.
In-person
exhibition
Ensemble presents Pot-au-feu
Jan 23
–
Jan 28 2026
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This showcase features experimentation with innovative plant and bacterial cellulose biomaterials as regenerative design. The exhibitors show the material’s versatility through real-life applications while asking: "What if we could simply bury our products in the garden at the end of their life?"
In-person
exhibition
Exploring Biomaterials in Textile Applications
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Figures in the Dark' invites viewers into a playful encounter with handmade sculptures. Within their studio, ceramic figures created by artists Ashley Tse and Ken Yau (Goji Studio), wait quietly to be found. All you need is your phone flashlight.
In-person
exhibition
Figures in the Dark
Jan 30
–
Feb 01 2026
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An immersive workshop exploring our connection with nature through handmade postcards crafted from preserved botanicals. Participants will write letters, reflect on memories with plants, and celebrate impermanence, sustainability, and the beauty of slow, mindful creation through texture, touch, and time.
In-person
exhibition
Fleeting Botanicals: A Study in Time and Texture
Jan 24
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Jan 30 2026
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'Flourish' is an immersive sculptural installation celebrating community growth and transformation. Suspended ornaments, merging Toronto’s architectural motifs with native flora, respond to shifting light—honoring cultural heritage while embodying innovation, progress, and the harmonious fusion of tradition and modern technology.
In-person
exhibition
Flourish
Jan 23
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Jan 30 2026
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Artists Joshua Abush and Anela Dusjic bring beauty from waste as they transform discarded sailboat parts into functional everyday items. 'Forget-me-not' reminds the viewer of the stories of these seafaring vessels through the unique patination and textures in these pieces.
In-person
window installation
Forget-me-not
Jan 23
–
Feb 01 2026
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'From the Ground' presents four collaborative sculptures by Christina da Graça and Songshu Liu, merging ceramics and woodworking. Displayed in window vitrines, the works reflect their shared respect for natural materials, celebrating growth, care, and the beauty of handmade craft.
In-person
exhibition
From the Ground
Jan 20
–
Feb 14 2026
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Large vibrant red fibre art installation of weavings and crochet in the beautiful foyer of 40 St. Clair Ave. W.
In-person
exhibition
Hope and Healing Canada – A Journey Towards Decolonization and Reconciliation
Jan 03
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Feb 01 2026
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'How Heavy is a Building?' explores the hidden environmental and cultural weight of architecture, revealing how materials, energy, and history shape our cities. Through film, it translates complex carbon research into an accessible story about reuse and sustainability.
In-person
exhibition
How Heavy is a Building?
Jan 25
–
Feb 01 2026
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giraffe and HSPLUS present a curated takeover of The Adelaide Project by TPL Lighting, featuring live 3D printing and a composed mix of lighting, furniture, and textiles. Two events invite designers and partners to explore how these elements integrate to shape contemporary interiors.
In-person
event: Reception
HSPLUS x giraffe – Takeover at The Adelaide Project
Jan 30 2026
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Changing Toronto’s built environment is challenging, requiring time, money, and collaboration. Yet many individuals and organizations are driving progress through advocacy, research, and design. The ‘Ideas Forum: Advocating for a Better City’ showcases their efforts through dynamic presentations and discussion.
Online
event: Talk
Ideas Forum: Advocating for a Better City
Jan 28 2026
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'Impossible Toronto: On the Courtyard' is an installation at TYPE Books Queen West that showcases a recent architectural study by Studio VAARO and Gabriel Fain Architects. A new vision grounded in an old typology — the courtyard block — the project calls for policy changes that would unlock an inspiring and practical missing-middle solution.
In-person
window installation
Impossible Toronto: On the Courtyard
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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These abstract screen prints explore the dialogue between geometric and natural forms, permanence and impermanence. Echoing fluid natural patterns, they capture fleeting moments where order meets flow, suggesting that even stable shapes can drift, shift, and briefly become something else.
In-person
window installation
In Drift
Jan 23
–
Feb 06 2026
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'Into the Wildgarden' is a suspended textile installation by Toronto artist Micah Chu featuring hand-stitched depictions of native plants and animals made from discarded fabrics. The work celebrates local ecology and sustainability, with part of proceeds supporting conservation
In-person
window installation
Into The Wildgarden
Jan 23
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Feb 22 2026
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'Invisible Weight' is a mixed-material installation visualizing the unseen weight of internal struggle. A suspended cloth, shaped by uneven sand pockets and shifting light, invites viewers to experience fragility, tension, and resilience—transforming emotional burden into a shared, tangible space of reflection.
In-person
exhibition
Invisible Weight
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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'Joyous Shindig' is a hanging installation made up of blown glass components wrapped and suspended by recycled leather detailing. This work is a celebration of the vibrant spirit of the queer community.
In-person
exhibition
Joyous Shindig
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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Brain health struggles and memory loss bring grief, a painful unravelling of self and time. Memories become patchy, fleeting, and sometimes entirely obscured. Using an X-ray lightbox and curated slides, the work captures the tension between disappearance and persistence.
In-person
exhibition
just a few more
Jan 23
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Feb 01 2026
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