By Jennifer Febbraro

Artist Peter Powning has a thing for books. And it’s not because he’s married to Beth Powning, award-nominated author of The Sea Captain’s Wife. In one of his pieces, Mr. Powning incorporates images of books floating dreamily underwater as a tide pushes them in and out of focus. In Fantasm, a video wall in the lobby of Festival Tower, commissioned by developer Daniels Corp., Mr. Powning’s passion for narrative evokes what he calls “cinema without content.” Behind a grid of bronze and heavy slumped glass, the artwork encourages residents to project their own stories on to the piece as landscapes glide past.

When the 42-storey glass condo — which sits atop the TIFF Bell Lightbox at King and John, home of the Toronto International Film Festival — premiered back in 2007, its suites were some of the hottest tickets in town.