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With the FIFA World Cup arriving in Toronto this week, Alex Rand wants the city’s residents to feel a sense of “urban optimism”
Rand is the creative producer for major projects for The Bentway — a public trail and corridor space under the Gardiner Expressway. For the World Cup, the piece of the Bentway adjacent to the Fort York Historic Site will be home to five public art displays as part of the FIFA Fan Festival. The festival’s theme is “The World in a City,” and Rand says that he looked for pieces that spoke to the city’s multicultural nature.
The most obvious example is United in Light, a rotating LED display of the flags of all 48 World Cup nations, created by Montreal’s Le Monde Studios. The LEDs change into a light show — “a little song and dance,” Rand says — when visitors press a button.
Caitlin Taguibao’s Make the World Go Round, on display at The Bentway in Toronto as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup celebrations. (Courtesy of The Bentway)
“It’s a celebration of all the nations, not only that are playing the game, but all the nations here in the city … How can we all be supportive of each other during this international event?” he says.
In both of Canada’s World Cup host cities — Toronto and Vancouver — artists are using art to show the throngs of visiting soccer fans what they love about their city, and remind locals that the places they live are actually pretty great.
The most striking piece on display at The Bentway is Make the World Go Round by Toronto-based muralist and illustrator Caitlin Taguibao. A series of illustrations spread across multiple concrete pillars, showing city landmarks along with people dancing on rooftops, roller skating and paddling the Humber River. Taken together, they function as a visual reminder of all the things that Taguibao loves about her hometown.
One of Seth Book’s mural’s at Vancouver’s Helmcken Plaza, celebrating the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Courtesy 800k.ca)
“People are always like ‘money makes the world go around,’ or ‘love makes the world go around,’” says Taguibao. but to me it really feels like community and gathering with friends and family is what is making my world go around. So I wanted to show just slow scenes of people gathering around Toronto and the ways that I love to gather.”
On the other side of the country, in Vancouver — Canada’s other World Cup host city — artist Seth Book’s deep love of soccer are what inspired his murals in Yaletown’s Helmcken Plaza. The mural depicts iconic soccer moments — ranging from Pelé’s 1965 bicycle kick goal against Belgium to Alphonso Davies scoring Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal against Croatia in 2022 — abstracted and then rendered in Vancouver’s cool official World Cup colour palette.
Book grew up playing soccer as a kid, and then drifted away from the game as he got older. He rediscovered his passion for it via his girlfriend’s father, a devoted supporter of English Premier League side (and reigning champions) Arsenal. He says the following the team was a really nice way to connect with him and get to know him and bond a little bit,” but soon turned into a full-fledged obsession for him“I wake up and watch every single game,” says Book. “I don’t miss a contest, even the ones that start at 4:30 here.”
United in Light by Montreal’s Le Monde Studio, on display at The Bentway in Toronto as part of the celebration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Courtesy of The Bentway)
He adds that Vancouver is a city with a deep soccer history, at least by Canadian standards, and he wanted to get that across in his mural, too.
“I don’t have any legendary Whitecaps on [the mural], but … I think just showing the knowledge and the care for decades on decades of football, I tried to evoke that,” he says. “We care about soccer here, and it’s a really important thing.”
For Rand, having the “this huge world event … coming to our doorstep” isn’t just an opportunity to show Toronto to the world, but a chance to change the way Torontonians see their home. Too often, he says, we focus on the frustrations of urban life “the traffic, the cost of living.” But when we host a global audience, it helps locals remember all “the things we love to do in our city,” and that Toronto can actually be a pretty joyous place.
