This winter, in a bid to encourage Torontonians and tourists alike to visit the waterfront during the colder months, the Waterfront Business Improvement Area (WBIA) has teamed up with the popular Beaches art competition, Winter Stations, to showcase interactive art installations at five locations throughout the neighbourhood.

“We really want to change people’s minds about embracing their waterfront and enjoying the beauty of it all year round,” said Carol Jolly, executive director at the WBIA. The five design-centric installations will be unveiled along the waterfront on Jan. 21 and will be on display until Feb. 26.

The installations vary greatly in their appearance, but all are set to make a mark on the neighbourhood’s landscape. Visitors can enjoy Danish design studio Platant’s shimmering light boxes in the Toronto Music Garden or RAW Design’s sailboat-inspired installation at Harbourfront Centre’s Canada Square. There will also be a pair of 10-foot-high glowing wooden hands, which will bathe the Peter Street Basin in a warm sunlight glow, and immense structures from Jaspal Riyait and Toronto design duo Polymétis.

The exhibition’s name, Ice Breakers, plays with the idea of art breaking down barriers between strangers, but it is also a nod to the utilitarian ships that used to dismantle the frozen water around Toronto’s harbours.

Ice Breakers’ partner, Winter Stations, is an international design competition that also brings public art to the city. The contest will return for its third year and will be held along Toronto’s east end beaches. The Winter Stations exhibition will run for five weeks, the first of which overlaps with the last week of Ice Breakers — meaning Torontonians have nine full weeks to enjoy these stunning wintertime works of art.

A Winter Stations exhibit will also return to the Beaches neighbourhood this year. This design competition focuses on warming huts, and winners will line the beaches from Ashbridges Bay to Balmy from Feb. 20 to March 27.