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Winter Stations

Winter Stations

Woodbine Beach, 1675 Lake Shore Blvd E

Feb 16 2026 to Mar 29 2026

Region : Greater Toronto Area     City: Toronto

  •  Add to Calendar 2026-02-16 2026-03-29 America/Toronto Winter Stations Winter Stations, the international design competition, is back to animate Toronto’s Beaches with design during the winter months.Winter Stations is a single-stage international design competition held annually. Participants are tasked with designing temporary winter art installations which incorporate existing lifeguard towers spaced strategically across the city’s Kew and Woodbine beaches. The structures (not in use in the wintertime) are considered visual anchor points for the installations.2026 — Theme: DawnA mirage is a shimmer at the edge of reality, appearing real only to dissolve when approached. The present moment feels much the same, bent and distorted by the rise of digital silos and artificial intelligence, where the truth we seek is always shifting.A promise and a trick, desire and deception, a mirage is a vision of what we long for most in a state of absence—water in a desert, fire in the cold. What longings define our time, and in what forms do they take?For Winter Stations 2026, artists, designers, and architects are invited to tickle the boundary between what is seen and what is real. The Stations should transform the shoreline into a place where illusion becomes architecture, offering glimpses of uncanny possibilities. Participants might also consider what imaginative public infrastructures could prompt people to set aside their devices and gather in shared reality. Woodbine Beach, 1675 Lake Shore Blvd E
Feb 16
to
Mar 29

Description

Winter Stations, the international design competition, is back to animate Toronto’s Beaches with design during the winter months.

Winter Stations is a single-stage international design competition held annually. Participants are tasked with designing temporary winter art installations which incorporate existing lifeguard towers spaced strategically across the city’s Kew and Woodbine beaches. The structures (not in use in the wintertime) are considered visual anchor points for the installations.

2026 — Theme: Dawn

A mirage is a shimmer at the edge of reality, appearing real only to dissolve when approached. The present moment feels much the same, bent and distorted by the rise of digital silos and artificial intelligence, where the truth we seek is always shifting.

A promise and a trick, desire and deception, a mirage is a vision of what we long for most in a state of absence—water in a desert, fire in the cold. What longings define our time, and in what forms do they take?

For Winter Stations 2026, artists, designers, and architects are invited to tickle the boundary between what is seen and what is real. The Stations should transform the shoreline into a place where illusion becomes architecture, offering glimpses of uncanny possibilities. Participants might also consider what imaginative public infrastructures could prompt people to set aside their devices and gather in shared reality.