World Stage: Canada is a monumental interactive digital artwork by artist Dominic Harris that reimagines the Canadian flag as a living constellation of hand-painted butterflies. Suspended in a virtual holographic space, the butterflies scatter and reform in real time — responding to the movement of visitors in Downtown Markham.
In World Stage: Canada, the iconic red-and-white maple leaf is transformed into a dynamic swarm of digitally hand-painted butterflies displayed across a major permanent video wall façade. From afar, the flag appears unified and precise. As guests approach, it begins to shift — responding instantly to motion and touch. Butterflies disperse in poetic formations, then gradually regroup, reflecting the rhythm, diversity, and vitality of the city around it.
At the top of every hour, the installation transitions into a radiant gold composition, marking time with a ceremonial moment of unity. A central butterfly beats its wings in rhythm, anchoring the work in both movement and meaning. More than a symbol, this is a shared experience — where every pause, every wave, and every step becomes part of the performance. Here in Downtown Markham, the flag is not only observed — it is activated, inhabited, and shaped by the community it represents.
A Gateway
Located in Downtown Markham’s Town Square, the façade serves as a gateway into a growing world of art, culture and community. Conceived by interactive digital artist Dominic Harris, World Stage: Canada marks the entrance to the RCG Art Gallery while extending its reach into the public realm. The artwork establishes art as a shared point of arrival—where residents, visitors, and passers-by collectively engage with creativity in everyday life. More than a physical threshold, the façade becomes a civic invitation, reinforcing Downtown Markham as a place where culture is not contained indoors, but lived, encountered and shaped together.
A Transformation
At the heart of the work is the butterfly, a recurring symbol in Dominic Harris’s practice, representing both the beauty of the natural world and the agility required to navigate change. The digital flag is composed of hundreds of butterflies that respond to movement in the square—scattering and shifting as people pass beneath it. Yet disruption is never permanent. As time progresses, the butterflies gradually return to their positions, reforming the flag in a quiet act of restoration. At the top of each hour, a single, central butterfly emerges to lead this moment of unity, marking the passage of time and reinforcing a sense of rhythm, continuity and collective balance within an ever-changing urban environment.
a Connection
Displayed on a building façade yet experienced as a multi-dimensional dialogue, the artwork invites an intimacy rarely possible in the natural world. Visitors are able to “touch” the butterflies—an impossible gesture in real life—without harm, transforming passive observation into active participation. Composed of 511 butterflies, the installation reaches a moment of heightened unity at the top of every hour, when a single, central butterfly emerges—marking time and shared presence in the heart of Downtown Markham.
Coming Soon!
Remington Contemporary Gallery
Downtown Markham is where culture, creativity, and community come together—and at its heart, the Remington Contemporary Art Gallery (RCG) will stand as a cultural beacon for the city. Opening in late 2026 in Gallery Square, the 25,000 square foot gallery will build on the success of the outdoor Art Walk, expanding Downtown Markham’s public art presence through immersive installations, rotating exhibitions, and a permanent collection featuring both world-renowned and local artists.
Designed as an inclusive gathering place, RCG will host exhibitions alongside events, workshops, and community programming that bring people together through shared creative experiences. With four interactive art spaces, including groundbreaking digital installations, RCG will elevate Downtown Markham as a dynamic cultural destination and a defining hub for arts, connection, and contemporary expression.
Meet the artist:
Dominic Harris
British, b. 1976
Dominic Harris is a London-based digital artist known for creating immersive, interactive works that merge nature and technology. His most ambitious project to date, World Stage: Canada (2025), is a monumental site-specific digital installation in Downtown Markham, Toronto. Featuring the Canadian flag composed of hand-painted butterflies, the work responds in real time to the movements of passers-by, transforming the public square into a living, evolving stage.
A graduate of The Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, Harris founded his London studio in 2007. There, he and his team design, engineer, code, and fabricate complex digital artworks that blend meticulous digital painting with custom software. Recurring motifs such as butterflies, flowers, and skulls explore themes of transformation, challenging audiences to reconsider the boundaries between the natural and virtual worlds.
“My art lives and breathes through the interaction of its audience. It’s a symbiotic relationship where the art responds to the viewer, and the viewer, in turn, becomes an integral collaborator within the art.”
- Dominic Harris
World Stage: Canada continues Harris’s acclaimed World Stage series, which began with explorations of national flags formed from butterflies representing the UK, USA, and China. As in earlier works, the butterfly serves as a signature motif — a symbol of transformation, freedom, and delicate strength. While the previous iterations were contained installations, this new commission marks Harris’s most ambitious scale to date, taking the interactive flag outdoors and integrating it directly into the fabric of civic life.
This work also deepens Harris’s ongoing investigation into the relationship between viewer and artwork — turning passive observation into active engagement. It builds upon themes from pieces like Spectrum, Metamorphosis, and Sounds of Liberty, where beauty and symbolism are placed in dialogue with interactivity and technological sublime. In World Stage: Markham, this vision is magnified across an urban canvas — a poetic system in motion, shaped by those who pass beneath it.
