Winter Stations to open at The Beaches in Toronto

The Winter Stations art installations open at The Beaches in Toronto this weekend.

Winter Stations is an international design competition held annually in Toronto where participants create temporary winter art installations. The competition is open to everyone in the world. There is no fee to enter.

This year the public exhibition is open from Feb. 17 (Family Day) to March 30.

The designs 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.

The art displays are meant to attract people to the area at a time when not many visitors head to the beach.

The 2025 theme, Dawn, marks the 11th year of the exhibition.

The theme symbolizes a fresh chapter in the Winter Stations creative journey.

“Just as the first light of morning breaks through the darkness, the exhibition will explore the moments of profound change that redefine and shape our existence, highlighting the delicate process of shedding old layers to emerge as something new,” Winter Stations said on its website.

Six installations were selected this year.

From the U.S., Trae Horne, created Watch is a solar aligned-structure anticipating equinox.

Watch is a solar aligned-structure anticipating equinox. 

Portugal design team, Cláudia Franco, Mariam Daudali and Tom Byrom, created Slice of the Sun, a symmetrical structure with simple shapes.

U.S. artist Jesse Beus created Parade comprised of six characters of different colours and shapes, which people are invited to parade through.

French design team Ines Dessaint, Tonin Letondu and University of Napoli “Federico ll” created Ascolto, an “acoustic shelter” in the shape of a horn or gramophone.

A University of Waterloo team created Peak, organic, beach scape angular peaks that frame perspectives and form pathways.

And finally, a Toronto Metropolitan University team designed Solair, a sculptural installation that captures the ephemeral beauty of dawn through the interplay of light, wind and reflection.

For more information on the Winter Stations, see the website here.