Winter Stations Toronto 2018

A giant pink hat is coming to Toronto's waterfront this winter

Seven huge, dope, interactive art installations will be set up across some of Toronto's most popular beaches next month – because what else can you do at the beach during winter, really?

The Winter Stations international design competition, now in its fourth year, is set to transform a series of lifeguard stands at Ashbridges Bay, Balmy Beach and Kew Beach into large-scale, temporary public art installations from Feb. 19 until April 1, 2018.

"These utilitarian structures are to be used as the armature for temporary installations," reads a description of this year's event, "which will need to be able to withstand the rigours of Toronto winter weather."

Along with the activism-inspired "Pussy Hut" pictured above, here are some of the pieces you can expect to see along Toronto's waterfront in the Beaches next month.

Winter Stations 2018

"Make Some Noise!!!" by Alexandra Grieß and Jorel Heid of Hamburg, Germany.

Winter Stations 2018

"Nest" by Adrian Chiu, Arnel Espanol and Henry Mai of Toronto.

Winter Stations 2018

"Obstacle" by Kien Pham of Surbiton, United Kingdom

Winter Stations 2018

"Revolution" by Ben Chang, Anna Pogossyan, Amr Alzahabi, Carlos Chin, Iris Ho, Tracee Jia, Krystal Lum, Adria Maynard, Purvangi Patel and Judiette Vu of Toronto.

Winter Stations 2018

"Rising Up" by Alexander Good, Austin Huang, Kevin Sadlemyer, Marc Cote, Stephan Stelliga, Zixiang Chen, Nadia Amoroso, John Phillips and Sean Kelly of Guelph, Ontario.

Winter Stations 2018

"Wind Station" by Paul van den Berg and Joyce de Grauw of Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The theme of Winter Stations 2018 is "RIOT: violent disturbance; uproar; outburst of uncontrolled feelings; a large or varied display."

Organizers say it was inspired by the political, cultural and environmental climates of 2017.

"The past year has been one of upheaval and continued uncertainty. Paradigms are shifting, lines of division appear to be drawn, perceptions skewed - it may feel we are losing sight of reality, or at least what we once considered normalcy," reads the competition's website. 

"But century after century, from one era and generation to the next, what was once within the realm of fantasy and disbelief emerges to the surface proposing alternate, often conflicting realities and ways of going forward," it continues. "And go forward we must!"

Lead photo by

WinterStations


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