MOCA’s front entrance is at 158 Sterling Rd. Its fall season brings Bharti Kher’s Bones, Delcy Morelos’s Ombligo and Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s Light of the Heavens, running October 4, 2026 to February 14, 2027. Floor 1 is always free to the public, so you can drop in without a plan.
Culture DeskList
Contemporary Art Galleries in Toronto, With Free Entry Flagged
From MOCA and The Power Plant to artist-run rooms on Bloor and Lansdowne, nine places for new art, with the free ones marked.
Toronto is a good city for seeing art before it has been explained to you. The rooms below range from big museum floors to small artist-run rooms, and every one of them is worth a visit.
Free entry is flagged from each gallery’s own page, and every link goes to the source so you can confirm dates before you head out. If you want the wider museum map first, start with our guide to museums in Toronto, or our broader list of art galleries in Toronto.
Where do you go for the big contemporary shows?
You will find it at 231 Queens Quay W., right at downtown Toronto’s waterfront. It offers free access to its gallery and programs all year. The gallery reopens with its new exhibitions on Saturday, October 24, 2026, and Sharon Lockhart: Fogo is one of several shows running to March 21, 2027. The Power Plant is a registered charity. Our pick if you want a free contemporary hour beside the lake.
Which smaller rooms should you know?
Mercer Union is a non-profit, artist-run centre dedicated to commissioning and producing new works of contemporary art. Twelve artists founded it in 1979, and it has been at 1286 Bloor Street West since 2008. It sits one block east of the Lansdowne TTC station on Line 2, which makes it an easy subway visit. Rouzbeh Akhbari’s Of Wool and Diesel is on view from 26 September 2026 to 23 January 2027.
Gallery TPW describes itself as an artist-run centre. It is at 170 St. Helens Ave. Right now it is hosting Things Fall Apart, part of the Toronto Biennial of Art 2026, with work by Nanibah Chacon, Regina de Miguel, Brendan Fernandes and Skawennati from September 26 to December 13, 2026.
Xpace is a not-for-profit artist-run centre supported by the OCAD Student Union. Its focus is giving emerging and student artists, designers, curators and art writers a chance to show their work in a professional setting. Find it at 303 Lansdowne Avenue, main floor, between College and Dundas. CURRENTS: A Reflection On The Electric Gallery, curated by Liana Mortin, runs October 31 to December 12, 2026. A good place to spot names before they are everywhere.
InterAccess is a gallery, educational facility, production studio, festival and registered charity dedicated to new media and emerging practices in art and technology. The address is 32 Lisgar Street. From November 4 to December 5, 2026 it presents poodle soup, the 25th Annual IA Current Exhibition, curated by Komal Lally. Expect screens, sensors and a bit of play.
Koffler Arts is at Youngplace, 180 Shaw St. Koffler Gallery presents Kamiphony from September 24 to December 13. Pair it with a stroll around the neighbourhood.
Where can you see free art on a campus?
The gallery is at 83A York Blvd and is always free. The nearest subway stop is York University Station on Line 1. Torkwase Dyson’s The Distance Inside Us (Bird and Lava) runs from 11 September 2026 to 6 March 2027, alongside Jeanne Randolph with John Monteith’s Fabulous Neoconstantinopolitanism over the same dates. Our pick for a full art afternoon outside the downtown core.
The Art Museum has two locations: the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at 7 Hart House Circle and the University of Toronto Art Centre at 15 King’s College Circle. Things Fall Apart is on view from September 26 to December 20, 2026. The museum is the main partner site for the Toronto Biennial of Art.
What is the Toronto Biennial of Art?
Think of it as the reason to go gallery hopping this fall. The 2026 edition, Things Fall Apart, is on through December 20, 2026. Two stops on this list, Gallery TPW and the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, are part of it. The Biennial also offers a free digital guide through Bloomberg Connects.
Which one should you start with?
If you only have one free afternoon, we would start at The Power Plant, because the lakeside walk is half the fun. If you want to see a lot in one go, take the subway to Lansdowne and string together Mercer Union and Xpace. If you like art that plays with technology, InterAccess is the room for you. And if a campus gallery sounds like a calm break from the downtown pace, the Goldfarb Gallery is worth the ride north.
Most of these spaces change their exhibitions every few months, so treat the dates above as a snapshot and check each gallery’s page the week you go. Bring a friend, pick one work to talk about on the way home, and you have made a proper night of it.
How do you plan a gallery day?
Cluster by neighbourhood. Mercer Union, Gallery TPW and Xpace all sit on the west side of the city, so a Lansdowne and Bloor morning can flow into an afternoon at InterAccess on Lisgar. MOCA pairs well with a Junction Triangle afternoon, and The Power Plant works as a lakeside finish. For more free ideas, our guide to free things to do in Toronto and our list of small museums in Toronto are good next stops.
Send this to the friend you would bring: the one who says they do not get contemporary art, right before they get it.
Sources (18)
- Plan Your Visit, Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto
- MOCA Toronto, Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto
- Plan Your Visit, The Power Plant
- About, The Power Plant
- Exhibitions, The Power Plant
- About, Mercer Union
- Visit, Mercer Union
- Mercer Union, Mercer Union
- Visit and information, The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery of York University
- Exhibitions, The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery of York University
- Current and upcoming, Gallery TPW
- About, Xpace Cultural Centre
- What's On, Xpace Cultural Centre
- About, InterAccess
- Fall 2026 programming, InterAccess
- Koffler Arts, Koffler Arts
- Toronto Biennial of Art 2026, Toronto Biennial of Art
- Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Art Museum at the University of Toronto
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