October 29 - November 1, 2026
Daily Programming
Art Toronto’s 2026 programming offers a dynamic lineup of talks, tours, and events that explore the many dimensions of contemporary art.
This year’s Platform Talks include Building a Stronger Arts Ecosystem, a four-part series curated by SITE Toronto. the series takes the idea of the arts ecosystem as its organizing framework—the network of artists, arts workers, galleries, non-profit organizations, collectors, patrons, funders, and audiences whose relationships collectively shape the vitality of a city's arts landscape. The program brings together leading voices from across Canada and beyond to explore the interdependence of these roles, and the structures, relationships, and forms of support required to create the conditions in which artists—and the communities around them—can flourish.
The program also features Curators in Conversation, co-presented with the National Gallery of Canada's National Engagement Initiative, which highlights collaborative approaches to artistic and institutional development. Additional tours and events provide further opportunities to engage with the ideas and people shaping the art world today.
Whether attending a talk or joining a tour, Art Toronto invites you to connect with the creativity and vision driving contemporary art.
Please note that closed captioning is available for all Platform Talks.
Friday, October 30, 2026
1:00 PM | Platform Talk | Curators in Conversation: Collaboration as Artistic and Institutional Development in the work of Rouzbeh Akhbari
Location:
Platform Stage
Speakers:
Ann Marie Peña, Curator, National Gallery of Canada
Aamna Muzaffar, Curator, Mercer Union
Allison Glenn, Curator, Toronto Biennial of Art
Description:
Curators Aamna Muzaffar, Alison Glenn and Ann Marie Peña are in conversation discussing artist Rouzbeh Akhbari’s newly commissioned multi-media installation Of Wood and Diesel, currently on exhibition at Mercer Union, co-presented with the Toronto Biennial of Art.
The conversation will consider what it means to collaborate on the development of a work within the current arts eco-system in Canada. Co-commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada; Mercer Union, Toronto; the Toronto Biennial of Art; and HANGAR Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon; and organized by Mercer Union for its first presentation in September 2026, Of Wool and Diesel demonstrates how collaboration can sustain artistic and institutional development, as well as collection building. The work has been conceived with future iterations in mind, allowing it to travel beyond its initial presentation and encounter communities across Canada. Within this context, the panel will further reflect on the aspirations of the National Gallery of Canada’s National Engagement initiative: to work in partnership with local organizations, and consider how artworks can enter into the lived realities of communities in new and meaningful ways.
Working across film, installation, archival research and fieldwork, Akhbari’s practice examines the political ecology of borders, trade, infrastructure, and human geography. The curators will discuss how the artist’s work attends to the intimate and often invisible forms of labour, exchange, and power that organize contemporary life. Of Wool and Diesel, nurtured along through conversations with Muzaffar spanning the past few years, emerged from Akhbari’s research in maritime border zones along the International North–South Transit Corridor. The project brings together a moving-image piece, a series of print works, and a large-scale felted wool floor installation, drawing directly on the archival histories of shepherds, corsairs and the movements of people and cargo in the Strait of Hormuz. The curators discuss how the installation approaches contemporary geo-political borders as lived environments shaped by movement, memory, rumour, and embodied knowledge.
The panel will conclude with an audience Q&A.
2:00 PM | Platform Tour | Haema Sivanesan, Director, Visual Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Location:
Meet at the Information Booth, located at the top of the main entrance escalators.
3:00 PM | Platform Talk | The Business of Art Galleries: Art Dealers in Conversation
Presented by the Art Dealers Association of Canada (ADAC)
Location:
Platform Stage
Speakers:
Michael Gibson, President, Michael Gibson Gallery
Shannon Norberg, Partner & Co-Director, Norberg Hall
Anita Cirillo, Art Consultant, Gallery Jones
Moderater:
Katlin Rogers, Founder/Director, Rogers Art Advisory
Description:
What does it mean to run an art gallery in Canada today? How has the role of the art dealer evolved, and what does the future hold for the traditional gallery model in a world full of social media? These questions and more will be discussed in The Business of Art Galleries: Art Dealers in Conversation, a one-hour panel between leading Canadian art dealers for an open conversation about the gallery business, its challenges, and the opportunities shaping our Canadian art market.
4:00 PM | Arte Sur Curated Tour | Karen Huber, Arte Sur Curator
Location:
Meet at the Information Booth, located at the top of the main entrance escalators.
5:00 – 9:00 PM | Emerging Collectors Evening
Experience the ultimate introduction to collecting with curated beats by a live DJ, complimentary cocktails*, and the vibrant energy that comes when art meets ambition.
The evening’s program includes expert programming with a stage talk by professional art advisors and two guided tours, all designed to help you discover top picks under $5,000 and navigate the art fair like a pro.
Whether you're buying your first piece or adding to a growing collection, this evening offers opportunities to connect with gallerists from across the country, discover emerging artists, and find inspiration for your collection.
*Friday Emerging Collectors Ticket required
5:00 PM | Platform Talk | Steve Wilson on Building & Sharing a Collection
Presented by Intact Art Insurance
Location:
Platform Stage
Speaker:
Steve Wilson, Co-Founder, 21c Museum Hotels
Moderator:
Emily-Jean Alexander, Director, Art Toronto
Description:
Join entrepreneur and art collector Steve Wilson, co-founder of 21c Museum Hotels, as he shares his innovative approach to collecting and displaying contemporary art. Wilson will reveal his personal collecting philosophy and discuss how he and hiswife Laura Lee Brown transformed their passion into the groundbreaking 21c Museum Hotel concept, making art accessible to broader audiences. This engaging session explores Wilson's unique perspective on 21st-century art, followed by a moderated discussion covering his collecting insights, intriguing artworks, philanthropic endeavors, and entertaining stories from the art world.
6:00 PM | Art Advisor Led Tour | Nico Epstein "Top Picks to Start a Collection With"
Location:
Meet at the Information Booth, located at the top of the main entrance escalators.
7:00 PM | Art Advisor Led Tour | Megan Paterson "This is how I’d spend $5,000 for you"
Location:
Meet at the Information Booth, located at the top of the main entrance escalators.
Saturday, October 31, 2026
12:30 PM | Art Dealers Association of Canada (ADAC) Tour
Location:
Meet at the Information Desk at the top of the main entrance
1:00 PM | Platform Talk | A Growing Interest: Latin American Art in Canada
Location:
Platform Talks Stage
Speakers:
Karen Huber, Curator, Arte Sur
Tamara Toledo, Title, Org
Jorge Lozano, Title, Org
Description:
This conversation traces the evolution of Latin American art in Canada, from the emergence of artistic communities in the 1970s and 1980s to today’s growing presence of artists, galleries, institutions, and collectors. Karen Huber, Tamara Toledo and Jorge Lozano explore the cultural exchanges shaping Canada’s art landscape, the role of initiatives such as Sur Gallery, the challenges faced by Latin American artists and institutions working in Canada.
2:00 PM | Platform Tour | Laine & Jonathan Groneweg, Smokestack
Location:
Meet at the Information Desk at the top of the main entrance
Tour Theme:
Printmakers' Tour of Printmaking
3:00 PM | Platform Talk | What is Art For?
Presented and curated by SITE Toronto
Location:
Platform Talks Stage
Description:
What does art make possible? It can offer pleasure, beauty, imagination, escape, critical reflection, collective memory, and new ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us. Art can unsettle familiar assumptions, bring people into relation, and give form to experiences that might otherwise remain unseen or unspoken. Its value, however, is not always easily measured—and cannot be reduced to economic impact, institutional recognition, or market success. At the same time, contemporary art often remains contained within a relatively narrow public. Who is art understood to be for, and who feels invited to participate in it? What social, economic, educational, and institutional barriers prevent more people from experiencing art as relevant to their lives? And how might artists and arts organizations create encounters that are intellectually ambitious while also being generous, accessible, and meaningful? Opening the series, this conversation considers art’s place in both individual and collective life. Before asking what artists need, how patronage can support them, or where art can take place, it returns to the fundamental question underlying the entire arts ecosystem: why does art matter, and what would it mean to treat culture as a public good?
4:00 PM | Arte Sur Curated Tour | Karen Huber, Arte Sur Curator
Location:
Meet at the Information Desk at the top of the main entrance
5:00 PM | Platform Talk | What do Artists Need?
Presented and curated by SITE Toronto
Location:
Platform Talks Stage
Speakers:
Joyce Joumaa, Artist
Dana Claxton, Artist, Filmmaker, Professor
Alan Belcher, Artist
Moderator:
Kate Wong, Founder, SITE Toronto
Description:
Artists sit at the centre of the arts ecosystem, yet many face significant structural and economic challenges. Bringing together artists working across disciplines, geographies, and generations, this conversation asks a simple but urgent question: what do artists need to build sustainable, ambitious, and meaningful careers in Canada? Grants and institutional support remain critical, but access to them is neither guaranteed nor equally distributed—and an artistic life depends on much more. From affordable space and financial stability to community, mentorship, critical dialogue, international exchange, and opportunities to experiment and take risks, what conditions allow artists not simply to sustain a practice, but to thrive? Drawing from their own experiences building careers both within and beyond Canada, the artists reflect on what has supported their practices, what has been missing, and what a more artist-centered ecosystem might look like
Sunday, November 1, 2026
12:30 PM | Art Dealers Association of Canada (ADAC) Tour
Location:
Meet at the Information Desk at the top of the main entrance
1:00 PM | Platform Talk | Arts Patronage – Beyond Collecting
Presented and curated by SITE Toronto
Location:
Platform Talks Stage
Speakers:
Anjli Patel, Lawyer
Roula Shimaly, Art collector and Board Member
Jonathan Brotchie, Founder and Executive Chair, Atuka Ltd; Founder BAP Art Projects
Alex Bowron, Arts Professional
Moderator:
Kate Wong, Founder, SITE Toronto
Description:
Collecting plays an important role in sustaining artists, galleries, and the broader art market, but it is only one of the many ways individuals can participate meaningfully in the arts ecosystem. Arts Patronage—Beyond Collecting is a panel discussion exploring the many forms that arts patronage can take, including direct support to artists, commissioning new work, and founding important new initiatives like residency programs and other platforms that create more opportunities for artistic experimentation, development, and creation. Bringing together visionary individuals each with unique approaches to arts patronage, the conversation considers what it looks like to move beyond collecting and take a proactive role in supporting, shaping, and strengthening the conditions in which art and artists can thrive
2:00 PM | Platform Tour | John Geoghegan, Curator at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Location:
Meet at the Information Desk at the top of the main entrance
3:00 PM | Platform Talk | Making Space for Art
Presented and curated by SITE Toronto
Location:
Platform Talks Stage
Speakers:
Chris Wilson, Artist & Researcher Erika Hennebury, Senior Cultural Affairs Officer, City of Toronto Ravi Jain
Moderator:
Kate Wong, Founder, SITE Toronto
Description:
Making Space For Art focuses on the built environment, considering physical infrastructure and access to space asfundamental to a healthy arts ecosystem. The panel brings together visionaries from across the sector who have developed—and continue to pioneer—new approaches to creating and sustaining affordable spaces for artists and arts organizations. Bringing longstanding cultural infrastructure into conversation with newer initiatives, the discussion asks: what would a city genuinely designed to support artists look like—and what will it take to get there.
4:00 PM | Arte Sur Curated Tour | Karen Huber, Arte Sur Curator
Location:
Meet at the Information Booth, located at the top of the main entrance escalators.