The broader goal of the event is to revitalize the area around the historic Erie Canal. Completed in 1825, the nearly 600-kilometer-long canal was considered a major feat of engineering at the time. Today, many communities along the canal have fallen into obscurity.

Medina Art Triennial artistic director Karin Laansoo told ETV cultural affairs program "OP" that one of America's largest energy companies was behind the triennial, seeing contemporary art as a way to support the regional economy and attract more tourists.

"Looking back now, we really had no idea just how big, ambitious and complicated this project would become. Nobody knew anything about Medina. I'm not just talking about international artists; I'm talking about people who live an hour away from here. Of the 39 artists, only one had ever been to Medina before because he was born in Buffalo and visited Medina with his father as a child," she said.

Medina's heyday came around the turn of the 20th century. Its prosperity was driven by local sandstone whose quarrying and transportation employed thousands of people, many of them immigrants from Europe.

History teacher Todd Bensley said the triennial is helping put Medina back on the map.

"We have two larger cities around us, Rochester and Buffalo. People may not think about us that much, but when they come here, they enjoy what they see. It's a typical 19th-century American town. Our Main Street is well preserved. There are a lot of great businesses in town. We just have to get people here and they'll fall in love with Medina," he said.

Two buildings more than a century old were restored for the Medina Art Triennial. A former hotel was turned into a visitor center, while an elementary school building that had stood empty for the past 30 years became the main exhibition venue. The latter also features scented works by Estonian artist Kärt Ojavee that seek to convey what Medina smells like.

"Kärt came to Medina last year on a research visit. She spent a week here trying to find the scent that best characterizes Medina. She settled on a particular variety of apple called Honeycrisp. Kärt began extracting different scents from apple blossoms, soil and seeds," Laansoo said.

Susanna Rosenstock, deputy director of the Toronto Biennial of Art, praised the triennial organizers' initiative and said the team had done incredible work.

"It was a major undertaking to bring the exhibits to a small town that perhaps doesn't have the infrastructure needed for exhibitions that would be readily available in a big city. Even though I've only been here for one day, the people and volunteers were very excited and grateful to have this exhibition here. It's unique to Medina and showcases the town's distinctive character. It's different from any other exhibition because it allows you to see the place where you live differently from the way you do in everyday life," she said.

Laansoo said feedback from visitors has been overwhelmingly positive. "The words people use are phenomenal, incredible, life-changing, inspiring," she said, adding that critics have also praised the initiative. "Critics said this new initiative is among the 20 most important art events of 2026."

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