Jon Sasaki | Everything In Balance

If you’re in the St Catherine’s area, it would be a mistake to miss this event:

"For this year’s festival, Toronto-based artist Jon Sasaki will be spending the afternoon creating a collaborative hanging sculpture in St. Catharines, Ontario. With your help. 

Over the course of six hours in the outdoor lot behind the Niagara Artists Centre, Jon Sasaki will assemble a large, suspended mobile sculpture, incorporating objects contributed by visitors. Each object must weigh 5 lbs or less, and act as a stand-in for something that is important to the donor – not a treasured, sentimental object or irreplaceable family heirloom, but something that might symbolize a personal set of values or priorities. For example, a person who is interested in cooking or food security might arrive with edible plant cuttings. Someone who values responsible journalism or the printed word might bring a copy of last week's newspaper. Throughout the performance, as new objects arrive, they will be added to the suspended armature, incorporated carefully into its overall structure, with thought and care taken to avoid tipping and affecting its equilibrium. The sculpture will be in constant flux. Every new object will necessitate a rebalancing of its overall assembly. Every donor’s “important things” will belong, and the constant reconfiguration of objects to accommodate new, disparate additions will be the focus of the artwork. “Everything in Balance” will strive to place everyone's “important things” in a state of harmonious coexistence.

 Join us and Jon Sasaki this fall:

📍 Niagara Artists Centre, 354 St Paul St, St. Catharines

📅  Sept 18th, 2026 | 3 - 9pm

🔹 Donate your object* to “Everything in Balance”:

📍 St. Catharines Farmers Market, 91 King St

📅 September 10, 12, and 17

Or bring your object during installation at the NAC on September 18th

*Please note that all donated items will not be returned. 

Find more information and updates about this program at the link: https://buff.ly/0mC1hM5

Photo and project renderings courtesy of the artist.

Everything in Balance is part of the 2026 Niagara Festival Hub made possible by Tourism Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Province of Ontario, the Tourism Partnership of Niagara and the Ontario Arts Council.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, and producing partners 

Niagara Artists Centre and the City of St. Catharines.