The 8th annual TO DO Festival runs January 15-21, 2018. Independently-produced events, exhibitions, and window installations are integral to the Festival’s structure. TO DO welcomes all who want to present, discuss, demonstrate, or exhibit design in any field and/or related disciplines.

2018 Exhibitor Registration

Deadline: Monday, October 2, 2017 by 11:59pm EST.
Exhibitors include independent designers, design firms, local businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and students. Exhibitors are responsible for arranging their own venue in the city of Toronto, including spaces such as galleries, studios, workshops, cafés, schools, cinemas, and businesses. Window installations must run for the entire week, events must take place during the week, and exhibitions must run during some part of the week. Installations and exhibitions can start before and/or end after Festival Week.

Thematic Exhibition: Matter

Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, September 22, 2017 by 11:59pm EST.
Recycling is a daily act for the modern civic-minded citizen. Its intrinsic value instilled following the “3Rs” campaign of the late 1970s, we diligently sort our waste for processing elsewhere. But the methods, proximity, scale, inputs, and outcomes of recycling processes are massively diverse. Matter explores acts of material transformation and change. It considers the possibility of material memory in which use leaves a mark, whether visible or invisible; the history and future of recycling processes from a personal to a global scale; and the mundane and ritualistic aspects of material use and applications. Matter asks the question: what happens when we take a long-term view of material life?

Matter invites submissions from artists and designers working in all mediums and formats. TO DO are open to projects expressed in 2- or 3-dimensions, digital or analog, whether they be object- or concept-based.

TO DO Talks Symposium: Designing the Future of Work

Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, September 22, 2017 by 11:59pm EST.
The world is increasingly digital and with it, so too is work. With a widespread shift towards greater connectivity, and robots capable of performing complex tasks, the landscape of work has changed dramatically, rendering a future that is less predictable and more complex. This new landscape offers a rousing combination of opportunities and challenges. Yet, jobs are increasingly unstable, or have disappeared altogether.

Design plays a major role in reshaping the way we work. It helps us imagine different futures, transitioning “old ways” of doing things, to new and “better” ways of doing and being. We seek designers and thinkers to give presentations that inspire. Talks may be about current research or case studies, new products or technologies, spaces or experiences, speculative design or strategies, or new processes or policies. TO DO welcome diverse perspectives and responses to the theme of designing the future of work.

Call for Host Venues

Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, July 7, 2017 by 11:59pm EST.
If you have a venue you’d like to have activated with a window installation, event, or exhibition. Potential venues include spaces in the City of Toronto such as shops, galleries, studios, cafés, schools, and cinemas. By submitting to this call for host venues, you agree to host a creative project by an artist or designer during Festival Week, January 15-21, 2018. The duration and type of participation is entirely determined by you when you make your submission. Host venues pay a registration fee, and provide the venue free of charge to the artist or designer.