Toronto Design Offsite Festival 2019 - Call for Submissions!

There are so many ways to get involved! Present an independent project, submit to one of the Festival’s curated exhibitions or half-day symposium, or be a Host Venue. Keep reading to learn more about each opportunity.

Toronto Design Offsite Festival (TO DO) brings people together to celebrate contemporary design across the city January 18-27, 2019. Join the Festival to become a part of an exciting network of creative people, exhibitions, events, and a captive audience of designers and design-lovers. Last year we had 100+ events and exhibitions across the city, 140K+ visitors, 95+ million press impressions, and 500+ million total brand impressions. From design talks to experimental installations to prototypes to opening parties and curated exhibitions, the Festival featured the work of over 800 artists and designers.

Surface Tension

Surface Tension is a provocation to explore the forces at work on water, both real and conceptual.

Exploring the theme of water from material, aesthetic, cultural, political, poetic, and ecological perspectives, Surface Tension seeks to engage a range of topics integral to thinking about water in its broadest senses. These include climate change, survival, access, beauty, depth, gravity, networks, infrastructure, and more. The exhibition asks how the attributes of, and tensions within, water manifest within contemporary culture as both a physical substance and salient topic.

We invite submissions from artists and designers working in all mediums and formats. We are open to projects expressed in 2- or 3-dimensions, digital or analog, whether they be object- or concept-based. Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, September 21, 2018 by 11:59pm EST.

Click here to learn more and submit your work.

Work/Life

Work/Life is an annual exhibition organized by the Toronto Design Offsite Festival in partnership with Umbra. A dozen new prototypes by Canadian designers are shown each year at the Umbra Store during the Festival. 

Work/Life invites Canadian designers to design a product for innovative houseware and workware that consider opportunities for multiple functions, storage, space efficiency, personalization, dual utility, entertaining, and other hybrid and micro-living concerns.

Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, September 21, 2018 by 11:59pm EST.

Click here to learn more and submit your work.

Design Unseen

Design is commonly defined as a methodical approach to the solution of a problem—yet there is no universal system for achieving a design solution. This exhibition aims to expose unseen creative processes, while asserting the value of design, which are often discounted in a culture that gives precedence to the end result. It asks whether process is as critical (if not more so) than a design in its final form.

We invite submissions from creatives working in the field of graphic design and communications. We are open to objects and materials expressed in 2- or 3-dimensions, digital or analog.

Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, September 21, 2018 by 11:59pm EST.

Click here to learn more and submit your work.

TO DO Talks Symposium: Unlocking the Future of Work

What about humans in the future of work? TO DO Talks Symposium seeks 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. We welcome diverse perspectives and responses to the theme of the future of work with a specific emphasis on values, ethics, education, access, and inclusion.

Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, September 21, 2018 by 11:59pm EST.

Click here to learn more and submit your talk proposal.

2019 Exhibitor Registration

Independently-produced events, exhibitions, and window installations are integral to the Festival’s structure. We welcome all who want to present, discuss, demonstrate, or exhibit design in any field and/or related disciplines. 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. The 9th annual TO DO Festival runs January 18-27, 2019, for 10 days. 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. Window installations and exhibitions can start before and/or end after Festival Week.

Deadlines

• Early Bird Registration Deadline: Friday, August 31, 2018 by 11:59pm EST.
• Final Registration Deadline: Friday, October 5, 2018 by 11:59pm EST.
• Content Deadline: Friday, October 19, 2018 (for all listings)

Click here to learn more and register as an exhibitor.

Call for Host Venues If you have a venue you’d like to have activated with a window installation, event, or exhibition, we want to hear from you! 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 18-27, 2019. 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. Deadline: all submissions are due Friday, June 22, 2018 by 11:59pm EST. Click here to learn more and register as a host venue.