edit festival

Festival coming to Toronto soap factory is going to be epic

Toronto got very excited when the Design Exchange announced it would be throwing a huge festival in an abandoned soap factory. Now more details have been released, and the scale of the event is even bigger than we imagined.

The EDIT Festival, which stands for Expo for Design, Innovation and Technology, will take place from September 28 to October 8 inside the Unilever Soap Factory near the Don Roadway and Lake Shore Boulevard East.

The 10-day event will come alive across five separate floors in the 150,000 square foot factory.

The overarching theme, Prosperity for All, will be brought to life by designer Bruce Mau and his massive photo exhibit of global conflicts. It'll take place on the main floor of the Unilever building.

Four sub-themes of Shelter, Care, Education and Nourish will be explored by Carlo Ratti, the Jamie Oliver Foundation, physician-scientist Julielynn Wong and Kentaro Toyama, among many other designers.

They'll each create installations that push the idea of how design thinking, coupled with innovative technology, can "help elicit change."

Jamie Kennedy will present a VIP dinner, architect Philip Beesley will create an immersive, responsive light exhibit, and artist Moritz Waldemeyer will showcase an eight foot tall infographic interactive art installation.

The highly interactive festival will also include things like a Cyborg arm that shoots glitter, an aquaponics farm, pavilions, yet-to-be-announced performances and a light-graffiti project.

Each of the five floors will have its own theme, and in addition to the installations, there will be a food component where visitors can taste "futuristic meals," such as cricket Bolognese.

Debates, talks, workshops and forums discussing everything from design to innovation and technology and art will happen throughout the event, so start getting excited for September now.

Lead photo by

blogTO


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