Exhibitions in Toronto
December 2026
December is mostly goodbyes. Richard Avedon's portraits of ageing leave The Image Centre on the 5th, the ROM's Psychedelics a day later, and the Biennial hub at the University of Toronto on the 20th. Bharti Kher at MOCA and Zadie Xa's bells at The Power Plant stay through the worst of the lake wind. Eight picks.
Closing in December
- Molly Steels: I Am/Was/Always5 Dec
The Image CentreFree
Family archives, pressed flowers and a lakeside video explore grief, mortality and the women who came before. Student Gallery.
- Tanya Marcuse: Portent5 Dec
The Image CentreFree
A multichannel video of ominous natural scenes, from swaying trees to volcanic vapour, on the New Media Wall, drawn from Marcuse's Book of Miracles series.
- Richard Avedon Immortal: Portraits of Aging, 1951–20045 Dec
The Image CentreFree
Nearly 100 Avedon portraits confronting aging, from Toni Morrison to the Dalai Lama, plus a restaging of his 1974 MoMA series on his father Jacob Israel Avedon.
Psychedelics: Art. Culture. Science.6 DecRoyal Ontario Museum
A research-driven look at the cultural, historical and scientific significance of psychedelics through artworks, objects, botanical specimens and interactives.
Things Fall Apart20 DecArt Museum at the University of TorontoFree
The fourth Toronto Biennial of Art, curated by Allison Glenn, explores rupture through the Great Lakes and global waterways, across both campus galleries.
In Search of Imperfection: The Macdonald Collection of Japanese and Japanese-Inspired Ceramics31 DecGardiner Museum
The Macdonald Collection shown in full for the first time: early Edo-period Japanese porcelain and Japanese-inspired ceramics, explored through nature, leisure and global trade.
Also on through December
Crawford Lake: Layers in Timeto 3 Jan 2027Royal Ontario Museum
How sediments of a small lake near Milton, Ontario record 1,000 years of human impact, making it the "golden spike" candidate for the Anthropocene.
Critical Minerals: Critical Choicesto 3 Jan 2027Royal Ontario Museum
Gallery installation in Earth's Treasures on the minerals essential to a net-zero society, and the lifestyle choices tied to them.
Always In Fashionto 3 Jan 2027Textile Museum of Canada
Curated by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, an immersive look at how contemporary Indigenous couturiers blend ancestral knowledge with innovation, featuring Kent Monkman, Brian Jungen and more.
Rouzbeh Akhbari: Of Wool and Dieselto 23 Jan 2027Mercer Union, a Centre for Contemporary ArtFree
A film installation tracing sheep smuggling and seafaring histories along a trade corridor from Azerbaijan to Oman, with archival material and handmade felt works.
Returning to Ourselves: Rebecca Baird and Kenny Alvin Baird—A Retrospective of Art and Design by Cree Métis Siblingsto 30 Jan 2027Onsite Gallery (OCAD University)Free
Forty years of sculpture, painting, traditional materials, interior and graphic design, film art direction and public art by Cree Métis siblings Rebecca and Kenny Baird.
Michael Massie: now and thento 30 Jan 2027Onsite Gallery (OCAD University)Free
Career survey of Inuk silversmith and sculptor Michael Massie: iconic teapots, unexhibited pieces and new large-scale installations full of joy and humour.
Chinese Zodiac Case: Year of the Horseto 31 Jan 2027Royal Ontario Museum
ROM's annual zodiac installation marks the Year of the Horse with horse figures from early China, once placed in tombs to serve the dead.
Made By Many: 50 Years of the Textile Museum of Canadato 1 Feb 2027Textile Museum of Canada
A 50th-anniversary show tracing five decades of exhibitions back to the 1970s, with works by Bev Koski, Marimekko, Melinda Patterson, Thor Hansen, You Wenfeng and more.
Bharti Kher: Bonesto 14 Feb 2027Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
Fifteen years of Bharti Kher's assemblages: sari-clad hybrid figures, stone and concrete forms and bindi-covered paintings, with a monumental new tondo.
Delcy Morelos: Ombligoto 14 Feb 2027Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
A site-specific installation by Colombian artist Delcy Morelos: sisal rope, soil and Toronto-harvested corn roots swell from the ceiling of Floor 2.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Light of the Heavensto 14 Feb 2027Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
The South Stairwell Sound Series plays a recently recovered c.1986 song by Canadian composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland, from the Keyboard Fantasies era.
Northumberlandto 20 Feb 2027Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary PhotographyFree
Boxing photographer Pete Doherty weaves ring images with photos of his dying parents and their Ontario town into a portrait of a life remade by loss.
Spotlight: Spanish Holbein Carpetto 21 Feb 2027Aga Khan Museum
A 15th-century carpet from Alcaraz, Spain, on loan from MFA Boston, where Muslim weavers blended Turkish designs with Iberian techniques.
Jeanne Randolph with John Monteith, Fabulous Neoconstantinopolitanismto 6 Mar 2027The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery of York University (formerly AGYU)Free
Randolph's recluse La Betty staged with Vasarely, Albers and Motherwell from York's collection and a rug by John Monteith. Visible Vault; fully open Wed and Sat.
Torkwase Dyson: The Distance Inside Us (Bird and Lava)to 6 Mar 2027The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery of York University (formerly AGYU)Free
Across all three galleries, Torkwase Dyson's painting, sculpture, drawing and animation use abstract "Hypershapes" to explore liberation, confinement and ecological crisis.
Saks Afridi: SpaceMosqueto 7 Mar 2027Aga Khan Museum
Saks Afridi's speculative sci-fi narrative uses recovered artifacts, sound and archives to trace a mysterious vessel said to answer collective prayers.
Owner of a Lonely Heartto 21 Mar 2027The Power Plant Contemporary Art GalleryFree
An 80-minute looping film program by Haig Aivazian, Stephanie Comilang, Alia Farid, Hope Pearl Strickland and Yuyan Wang on labour, ecosystems and commodities.
Sharon Lockhart: Fogoto 21 Mar 2027The Power Plant Contemporary Art GalleryFree
Sharon Lockhart's Fogo Island Portrait Studio photographs and the film installation WINDWARD, a long, attentive look at Newfoundland's Fogo Island and its people.
Zadie Xa with Benito Mayor Vallejo: Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everythingto 21 Mar 2027The Power Plant Contemporary Art GalleryFree
Paintings, murals, sound and a conch-shaped mobile of 600+ brass bells weave Korean mythology, diaspora and marine ecology into a multi-sensory installation.
Adaptive Ceramic Historiesto 29 Mar 2027Gardiner Museum
Medical and adaptive ceramics made for sick or disabled users, from the 17th century to today, seen from the patient's side of care. Curated by Alexandra Box.
André Perugia: A Design Legend Unveiledto 4 Apr 2027Bata Shoe Museum
Over 95 designs by André Perugia (1893-1977), pioneer of the stiletto heel, made for Dior, Schiaparelli, Josephine Baker and other clients.
Toronto Biennial of Art at the Aga Khan Museumto 11 Apr 2027Aga Khan MuseumFree
Contemporary works from the Toronto Biennial of Art 2026 across the park, atrium, façade and galleries, including Dawit L. Petros. Free to visit.
After the Island: Caribbean Canadian Ceramicsto 25 Apr 2027Gardiner Museum
PJ Anderson, Eddy Firmin, Manuel Mathieu and Sharon Norwood use clay to explore Caribbean diaspora memory, identity and belonging, in partnership with BAND and MoAD.
Retracing Tatreez: Palestinian Thobes through the 20th Centuryto 2 May 2027Textile Museum of Canada
Palestinian embroidered thobes and jellayeh from the collection, most shown for the first time, curated by Nina Rafique with restored context on their regional motifs and journeys.
Over and Over Againto 17 Jun 2027Art Museum at the University of TorontoFree
Carol-Ann Apilado, Kuh Del Rosario, Sukaina Kubba and Esmelyn Miranda Orozco use weaving to probe broken patterns. At the Jackman Humanities Institute, Mon–Fri 9–4.
Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living Landscapesto 4 Jul 2027Art Gallery of Ontario
Dawoud Bey's landscape photographs and the two-channel video 350,000 meditate on North American land and Black diasporic history, with works from the AGO's Frum Collection.
Kamrooz Aram: Lapis Interventionto 11 Jul 2027Aga Khan Museum
Artist Kamrooz Aram co-curates a gallery intervention setting his lapis-blue Arabesque paintings among collection works to challenge Eurocentric display.
Opening in January 2027
Image credits
30
- Psychedelics: Art. Culture. Science.Courtesy of Royal Ontario Museum
- Things Fall ApartCourtesy of Art Museum at the University of Toronto
- In Search of Imperfection: The Macdonald Collection of Japanese and Japanese-Inspired CeramicsCourtesy of Gardiner Museum
- Crawford Lake: Layers in Time© Craig Smith, 2023
- Critical Minerals: Critical Choices©ROM
- Always In FashionPhoto by Darren Rigo.
- Rouzbeh Akhbari: Of Wool and DieselCourtesy of Mercer Union, a Centre for Contemporary Art
- Returning to Ourselves: Rebecca Baird and Kenny Alvin Baird—A Retrospective of Art and Design by Cree Métis SiblingsPhoto by Luca Dichio
- Michael Massie: now and thenCourtesy of Fehely Fine Arts, photo by Renzo Fernandez
- Chinese Zodiac Case: Year of the HorseCourtesy of Royal Ontario Museum
- Made By Many: 50 Years of the Textile Museum of CanadaPhoto by Darren Rigo
- Bharti Kher: BonesCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
- Delcy Morelos: OmbligoPhoto: LF Documentation
- Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Light of the HeavensCourtesy of the artist, Third Side Music Inc., and Transgressive Records
- NorthumberlandImage courtesy of the artist
- Spotlight: Spanish Holbein CarpetPhotograph © 2026 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Jeanne Randolph with John Monteith, Fabulous NeoconstantinopolitanismCourtesy of The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery of York University (formerly AGYU)
- Torkwase Dyson: The Distance Inside Us (Bird and Lava)Photograph: Richard Gary, courtesy Pace Gallery
- Saks Afridi: SpaceMosqueCourtesy of Aga Khan Museum
- Owner of a Lonely HeartCourtesy the artist.
- Sharon Lockhart: Fogo© Sharon Lockhart, 2025
- Zadie Xa with Benito Mayor Vallejo: Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers EverythingCourtesy the artists and Thaddaeus Ropac. Photo: Eva Herzog.
- Adaptive Ceramic HistoriesCourtesy of Gardiner Museum
- André Perugia: A Design Legend UnveiledCourtesy of Bata Shoe Museum
- Toronto Biennial of Art at the Aga Khan MuseumCourtesy of the Artist and Bradley Ertaskiran
- After the Island: Caribbean Canadian CeramicsCourtesy of Gardiner Museum
- Retracing Tatreez: Palestinian Thobes through the 20th CenturyCourtesy of Textile Museum of Canada
- Over and Over AgainCourtesy of Art Museum at the University of Toronto
- Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living LandscapesCourtesy of Art Gallery of Ontario
- Kamrooz Aram: Lapis InterventionKamrooz Aram, Pejman Family Collection
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