At the federal level, the future of relations between Canada and the US may seem uncertain considering the outcome of this month’s American presidential election, but at the level of public art a new bilateral partnership is in the offing. The Public Art Fund (PAF), a New York-based organisation known for programming large-scale outdoor art projects across the city and beyond, is teaming up with Toronto’s fledgling Lassonde Art Trail (LAT), a site that will feature around 4.2km of walking paths overlooking Lake Ontario when it opens in summer 2026. As part of the partnership, the two organisations are co-commissioning of a new work: an outdoor sculpture by the renowned Senegalese-born Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri.
Al Qadiri, who is based in Berlin and often makes work dealing with the oil industry, will first install her commission at Manhattan’s Doris C. Freedman Plaza, the southeast entrance to Central Park, in the summer of 2025. Then it will travel north, to be shown at a major entrance plaza on the Lassonde Art Trail.
“I’ve been working around this topic for around 11 years now. My ideas are really developing in terms of this relationship between humans and nature, and how we approach this ecological, environmental condition,” Al Qadiri told The Art Newspaper earlier this year. “Fossil fuels were maybe a personal entry into this because of my background, but now I’m having more, let’s say, evolved ideas about humans, beasts, bioengineering and different things.”
“Public Art Fund is committed to sharing dynamic contemporary art with the public, and this co-commission with Lassonde Art Trail enables us to broaden the audience for Al Qadiri’s exciting work,” Melanie Kress, the PAF’s senior curator, said in a statement. “Both our organisations believe art is an essential building block for great public spaces and that the dynamic relationship between nature and the built environment is a valuable inspiration for artists.”
Rendering of Lassonde Art Trail site on Villiers Island by Norm Li AG+1
Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto
Julie Lassonde, the LAT’s board chair, commented on the advantages of the partnership. “Partnerships are fundamental for the Lassonde Art Trail as we build out an exceptional programme that intentionally creates meaningful relationships across Canada and abroad,” she said. “These collaborations will help create access to public art for everyone who visits the art trail, and support opportunities for artworks to be shown in multiple locations in the future.”
Closer to home, the LAT is also partnering locally with York University’s L.L. Odette Sculptor in Residence programme, with Toronto-based artist Kara Hamilton at the forefront. Hamilton, who has shown widely and works in a variety of media including found objects, will create a sculpture with her students for the art trail’s launch.
“It is energising to be able to work on an environmentally thoughtful project with Kara that also allows students to develop new skill sets and an enhanced understanding of sculpture techniques with innovative organic materials,” November Paynter, the LAT’s chief curator, said in a statement.
When plans were first announced for the LAT, they included news of a new commission by the celebrated Cree visual artist Kent Monkman. A second permanent commission, this one going to an international artist, will be announced in 2025.