Winter Stations art installations unveiled at Toronto Beach

Just in time for Family Day, a pop of colour has come to Kew and Woodbine beaches.

Late in the morning of Feb 17, the sixth annual edition of Winter Stations officially launched for the season.

The international design competition and exhibition, which incorporates existing lifeguard towers along the Toronto Beach, runs until March 30.

The 2020 edition of Winter Stations features four installations: Mirage by Cristina Vega and Pablo Losa Fortangordo; Kaleidoscope of the Senses by Charlie Sutherland; Noodle Feed by iheartblob; and The Beach’s Percussion Ensemble by fine arts and graphic design students at Centennial College’s Story Arts Centre.

The theme of this year’s display is Beyond the Five Senses. Those who applied to take part were asked to explore how our senses interact and overlap to provide us with a picture of our environment, and how we interact with it, demonstrating our subjective relationship to reality, or displaying a distorted one.

“This is really a celebration of the Beach,” said Winter Stations organizer Aaron Hendershott of RAW Design.

“When we think of the beach, we think of the sun, the sand and swimming, but we don’t think of February. Here we are in the middle of February and there’s hundreds of families checking out the Beach and seeing this wonderful art.”

Beaches-East York Coun. Brad Bradford was also on hand for today’s launch event, which he called a “Family Day tradition.”

“It’s something not only the east end, but all of Toronto looks forward to,” he said.

“(Winter Stations) challenges our assumptions of what takes place at the beach. We’re sharing our Beach community with the rest of the city all year long.”

Today also marks the launch of #ConnectWinterStations2020 photo contest. Visitors to the temporary art installations, which were selected by a design jury from nearly 300 submissions, are invited to hashtag their favourite social media posts for a chance to win a basket valued at more than $250.

From Sunday, Feb. 23, until Sunday, March 22, East End Arts will also be hosting a series of complimentary Winter Stations Art Pop-Ups at 1961 Queen St. E. The free-of-charge sessions will be based on the five senses and will run from 1 to 4 p.m.