A Potential Toronto | Launch: Thurs. 27 Sept.

A POTENTIAL TORONTO
INITIATED BY TORONTO SCHOOL OF CREATIVITY & INQUIRY (TSCI)
More info: www.tsci.ca

LAUNCH: THURS. 27 SEPT. 2007

27 SEPT. - 10 NOV. 2007
TORONTO FREE GALLERY
660 QUEEN ST. EAST (W. of BROADVIEW)

Fear disciplines. Capital divides. States order. Creativity sells. Cynicism saturates. Against the persisting ethos of the 'Common Sense Revolution' are dots that puncture the city's territory. Where are they? A Potential Toronto is an event series and exhibition spotlighting alternative economies, minor spaces, and organizing strategies. What experiments and proposals are out there for democratizing space, cracking constraints, and co-operating differently? What works, and why? What blocks an alternative from flourishing? What concepts help us think through it? Exploring these questions, A Potential Toronto is a preliminary step in a longer-term counter-cartography project which would render currents of radical energy visible, audible, and tactile.


LAUNCH: THURS. 27 SEPT. 2007
6:30pm: OPENING FOR 'COMMON SENSE REVOLUTION' / 'TORONTO'S URBAN UNCONSCIOUS'
7:30pm: 'A POTENTIAL COMMONISM' - A TALK BY NICK DYER-WITHEFORD PARTY TO FOLLOW


'A POTENTIAL COMMONISM' - A TALK BY NICK DYER-WITHEFORD [AUTHOR OF 'CYBER-MARX']
It has been said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Does the widespread interest in 'commons' by environmental, labour, and open-source activists draw a new line of fight and flight pointing beyond capital? Nick Dyer-Witheford presents a talk on the concept of commonism.

'COMMON SENSE REVOLUTION' - SCOTT SORLI
This information graphic tracks Ontario welfare income for a single person against the number of homeless who have died on the streets of Toronto over the past two decades. The year 1995 is particularly striking, the year that welfare income begins to plummet, the year that homeless deaths begin to jump, the year that the Harris Conservatives were first elected.

'TORONTO'S URBAN UNCONSCIOUS' - ADRIAN BLACKWELL, TINA CHUNG, ANDREA GAUS, DAVIDE GIANFORCARO, KIM LIGERS, ANDREA MACECEK, GRAEME STEWART, and GEOFFREY THUN. Projects from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design

This design research project focuses on Toronto's Western Rail triangle, an area of urban fabric that suffers from both social and physical isolation from the rest of the city. We argue that this territory acts as Toronto's urban unconscious, divided from other spaces by ravines, railways, highways, and industrial fabric. These seven architecture and urban design projects make use of the area's existing potential to imagine useful and pleasurable spaces for daily life.

** EVENT SERIES DETAILS TO FOLLOW:
COMMONS READING GROUP [begins 1 oct.]
WOMEN AGAINST POVERTY COLLECTIVE [11 oct.]
YOUTH [18 oct.]
BORDERS + MIGRATION [23 oct.]
ABANDONED HOUSING: USE IT OR LOSE IT [29 oct.]
ORGANIZING [1 nov.]
QUEER PUBLICS [9 nov.]
WORKER CO-OPS [10 nov.]