The Power Plant Launches Its Fall 2026 Season With Two Exhibitions, A Film Program, And The Return Of Power Ball
The Power Plant unveils an ambitious season featuring solo exhibitions by Zadie Xa with Benito Mayor Vallejo, and by Sharon Lockhart, with an accompanying film program, as well as the long-awaited return of its iconic fundraiser
This fall, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery launches a new season of contemporary art, bringing together internationally acclaimed artists, immersive installations, moving image, and one of Toronto's most anticipated cultural celebrations. Beginning with the long-awaited return of Power Ball on September 17 after a seven-year hiatus, the season continues with two major exhibitions by Zadie Xa with Benito Mayor Vallejo, and Sharon Lockhart, alongside a program of recent moving image works that expands on the season’s themes.
Together, the Fall 2026 season reflects The Power Plant's commitment to presenting ambitious contemporary art that connects local and global conversations while creating meaningful opportunities for audiences to experience art through exhibitions, film, public programs, and a fundraising art party.
"The Fall 2026 season brings together distinct artistic visions that are connected through shared questions of place, identity, and belonging," said Adelina Vlas, Artistic Director at The Power Plant. "Across these exhibitions, artists explore the boundaries of their respective mediums while engaging with subjects such as migration, memory, and our evolving relationship with the world around us."
Power Ball Returns
The Fall 2026 season begins on September 17 with the long-awaited return of Power Ball, The Power Plant's signature fundraising event and one of Toronto's most anticipated contemporary art experiences.
After a seven-year hiatus, Power Ball: The 7-Year Itch transforms the entire gallery into a one-night-only exhibition, where immersive artist installations, live performances, experimental music, and unexpected encounters take over every corner of the building. The event invites guests to experience The Power Plant like never before while directly supporting the gallery's ambitious exhibitions and free public programming.
This year's edition features newly commissioned artists’ projects by Rah Eleh, Ella Gonzales, and Sami Tsang, alongside a dynamic lineup of live music and performances from Colin Fisher + Kieran Adams, EGYPTRIXX, Imaginary Percussion Ensemble, Invisible City, Milch, Karim Olen Ash & Phillippe, Shaghayegh Bagheri + Kasra Faridi, TEENO, TONY PRICE, and Vjollça. Music and performance programming is curated by Power Ball Committee Member Malcolm Levy in collaboration with Standard Time.
Co-chaired by Victoria Webster and David Palumbo.
Sharon Lockhart: Fogo
The Power Plant, in partnership with The Vega Foundation, is proud to present Fogo, a solo exhibition of work by the internationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist Sharon Lockhart that was made over the course of four summers on Newfoundland’s Fogo Island. The exhibition consists of a series of photographs, collectively entitled Fogo Island Portrait Studio, that pictures the island’s young residents, alongside WINDWARD, a film installation featuring the same protagonists that brings to life the island’s striking geological formations, unique climate, and austere beauty. These works build on core themes that have continued to define Lockhart’s career: an exploration of place, a durational approach to attention, and a long-term commitment to those who appear before her lens.
WINDWARD is co-commissioned and co-produced by Shorefast/Fogo Island Arts, The Vega Foundation, and the National Gallery of Canada, with the support of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
The tour of this exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Sharon Lockhart, still from WINDWARD, © Sharon Lockhart, 2025. Co-commissioned and co-produced by Shorefast/Fogo Island Arts, The Vega Foundation, and the National Gallery of Canada, with the support of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin.
Zadie Xa with Benito Mayor Vallejo: Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everything
The Power Plant presents the first major solo exhibition in Toronto by Vancouver-born, UK-based artist Zadie Xa, created together with longtime collaborator, artist Benito Mayor Vallejo. An immersive installation that responds to the specific context of The Power Plant, the exhibition combines new and existing works, including paintings by Xa, murals, sound, and a mobile sculpture made of over 600 brass bells, suspended from the gallery’s ceiling in the shape of a conch shell, co-created by Xa together with Mayor Vallejo. Visitors will experience a vibrant, multi-sensory environment that connects the artists’ ongoing exploration of storytelling, Korean mythology, folklore, diasporic identity, and marine ecology to the shores of Lake Ontario.
Zadie Xa and Benito Mayor Vallejo, detail of Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everything, 2025. Courtesy the artists and Thaddaeus Ropac. Photo: Eva Herzog.
Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everything is organized and developed in partnership with Esker Foundation, Calgary, where it is on view from May 23 to August 23, 2026, and PHI, Montréal, where it will be on view from April 29 to September 12, 2027.
The Power Plant gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Partners in Art; and recognizes Armstrong Fine Art Services as the exhibition's Shipping and Logistics Partner. We acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts for its support of the tour of this exhibition.
Owner of a Lonely Heart, Film Program
Owner of a Lonely Heart is a program of moving image works curated to complement the exhibition season, presented in partnership with The Vega Foundation.
Featuring recent works by Haig Aivazian, Stephanie Comilang, Alia Farid, Hope Pearl Strickland, and Yuyan Wang, the program transforms The Power Plant's second-floor gallery into a theatre where the 80-minute program loops continuously. This program explores entanglement as a condition of contemporary life. The artists' works frame dense webs of relations linking raw materials, labourers, and ecosystems into global economies.
About The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is Canada’s leading public gallery devoted to contemporary art, ideas, and conversations. Located on Toronto’s waterfront, The Power Plant is a vital forum for the creative culture of our time, sharing inspiring and transformative experiences with audiences through free admission to exhibitions and public programs. The Power Plant is guided by the commitment to provide a platform for artists from diverse backgrounds, drawing attention to pressing issues and connecting communities in Canada and worldwide through contemporary art. For more information, please visit thepowerplant.org.
