Canada Makes International Design News with Launch of EDIT: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology

Design Exchange will unite the globe with a 10-day immersive festival, expo and interactive experience that showcases how design can help change the world

TORONTO, May 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Design Exchange (DX), Canada's design museum, is known for its forward-thinking explorations of design's role in culture, with such blockbusters as Pharrell Williams'This Is Not a Toy exhibit and iconic fashion designer Christian Louboutin's 20th retrospective. Today, DX announced the launch of EDIT: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology – an unprecedented 10-day biennial festival, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). From September 28 to October 8, 2017, design visionaries from across the globe will gather in Toronto's East Harbour (formerly Unilever Soap Factory) to manifest 150,000-square-feet and five separate floors into a 360-degree immersive and playful experience. Thought-provoking installations, interactive programming, stimulating speakers and immersive pavilions will explore how the powerful intersection of design, innovation and technology can provide solutions to the world's greatest challenges and help shape the future for all people.

EDIT's overarching theme "Prosperity For All" is inspired by the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Global Goals for Sustainable Development and will be brought to life through an installation by globally renowned designer Bruce Mau, co-founder of the Massive Change Network and Bruce Mau Design. Mau's impactful exhibit on the main floor will feature larger-than-life, black-and-white images of global conflicts. Pollution, genocide, and terrorism – as captured by award-winning Magnum photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin (Italy) – will be contrasted with inspiring, universal design projects seeking to offer solutions to these challenges.  

Mau will be joined by leading cultural thinkers Carlo Ratti (Italy), Jamie Oliver Foundation (United Kingdom), Julielynn Wong (Canada) and Kentaro Toyama (Japanese-American), who will each develop an installation reflecting the Global Goals, divided into the four pillars of EDIT: Shelter/Cities, Nourish, Care and Educate. The multi-sensory exhibits will act as an "edit" of real-world problems and display how design thinking coupled with innovative technology can help elicit change. Among the roster of anticipated highlights are technological innovations such as Modular Farms and Waterfarmers Aquaponics, Jordan Reeves' playful "Project Unicorn" - a prosthetic arm that shoots glitter - and Olafur Eliasson's Little Sun, solar-powered LED lamps that invite visitors to make light graffiti. Each theme will comprise an entire floor of the East Harbour site to create a fully interactive and immersive oasis with eye-opening activities for all ages, unparalleled to anything Canada has ever experienced.

"We assembled some of the brightest and most creative thinkers and doers of our time to help demonstrate the true transformative power of design. While the esthetics of design can be powerful in and of itself, design is so much more than that.  Be it climate change, challenges of urbanity, or ensuring that basic needs are met for all, design should have a seat at the table. The grand challenges we face as a planet can be solved through design, innovation and technology. EDIT is a platform for these ideas and this new way of thinking.  And, the UNDP's Goals for Sustainable Development show that if we work together on a global scale we can solve anything," said Shauna Levy, President of Design Exchange.

Supported by the Government of Ontario and its Ontario150 Program with a funding commitment of $1.75 million, EDIT will accentuate and propel the province's seat at the global design table, while simultaneously highlighting the potential the industry has to solve issues on a universal scale. The event will coincide with Canada's and Ontario's 150^th anniversary, while simultaneously marking the 50^th anniversary of Expo 67 and the 30^th anniversary of DX to situate the country as a hotbed for innovation. 

"With events like EDIT, our 150th anniversary of Confederation is continuing to provide a platform for innovation and the gathering of great minds to illicit positive change on a global scale. This 10-day expo around the UN's themes will spark imaginations of global sustainability to educate, care, shelter and nourish, will spark imaginations and important conversations that will cross generations and diverse backgrounds. This is a great step in moving towards a more progressive world village, incubated right here in Ontario," said Eleanor McMahon, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

"Events like EDIT provide an opportunity for creative people to come together and find innovative ways to solve the challenges our city faces. We need to address these challenges of affordable housing, protecting our environment, and building a smart city through technology so Toronto can continue to be one of the most livable and competitive cities in the world. Working together, we can improve how this city functions for the benefit of all who live, work and invest here," said Mayor John Tory.

In addition to exploring five floors of installations and enjoying futuristic food meals, such as cricket bolognese, the anticipated 100,000 guests will also have the opportunity to engage in unparalleled debates, unscripted talks, exhilarating workshops and fascinating forums to participate in a pivotal universal discourse. From Moritz Waldemeyer's 8ft tall infographic interactive art installation to Philip Beesley's immersive responsive light exhibit, to Jamie Kennedy's VIP dinner to a designated Youth Day filled with tours, activities, and talks to inspire the next generation of Canadian change-makers, EDIT promises to shift perspectives and ignite conversations.

EDIT would not be possible without the support of its partners Ontario150, the City of Toronto, Rogers Communications Inc, First Gulf, Air Canada, Metrolinx, Facebook Canada and Deloitte.

Want to learn more about EDIT? Sign up for the official newsletter and be the first to hear about new installations, confirmed curators, the event's celebrity performer and more!

About EDIT
Change the world by design. EDIT is a 150,000-square-foot immersive experience that envisions a world transformed by unparalleled design, innovation and technology solutions. Produced by Design Exchange, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this groundbreaking inaugural festival will ignite conversations through an array of curated exhibits, compelling talks, and inspiring installations. Inviting some 100,000 visitors to East Harbour (formerly Unilever soap factory) in Toronto's Port Lands, EDIT challenges visitors and participants to consider how we can make the world a better place. Together. www.editdx.org @editdx #editdx

SOURCE Design Exchange