Desire Paths are unpaved passages, slowly carved into the terrain of a city, formed by the citizens' own walking tracks, and guided by their belief in a better way.
Desire Paths is a six-part series of audio experiences that explore Toronto futures, designed by artists. Through field trips, self-guided narration, and interviews, each episode will offer a unique view into the artist’s imagination, inviting the listener to reflect on desired paths to shape the next decade in Toronto.
Field trips across the city provide the backdrop for reflection through movement and physical presence, allowing artists to connect their personal histories and lived experiences to their vision for possible futures. With premonitions in mind, the second part of each episode will delve into a conversation between the artist and a city-builder to explore how to bring this desired path into being.
Desire Paths is part of Luminato’s Illuminating Ideas program; a series of conversations and experiences that creatively explore some of the most important issues and ideas facing our world today.
Desire Paths is produced by Alex Rand, and co-curated by Hima Batavia and Alex Rand, with Creative Producers Macy Siu, Jeremy Glenn, and Robert Bolton of Toronto-based foresight studio, From Later.
“Black joy is Black liberation, and I think you can take the Black out of it and joy still is liberation for anyone, you know, like to feel good feelings, that's freedom. And I think that's something that everyone should embrace whenever they can, but you have to learn it.” Part 1 We end this season of Desire Paths on a playful note with comedian and storyteller Liza Paul as she shows us what it means to play in the city. Liza begins where it all started for her – at her parents’ ...
23 Jun 2021
Pree Rehal: Accessible Futures
“Access needs or even just like planning for disability and access is not a one size fits all. It can be really harmful when there's just a document or a toolkit that's like ‘here’s access planning 101’. There can be so many conflicting access needs – you can't anticipate a certain body or a certain kind of disabled person being in this space or participating in this space.” In our fifth episode, artist Pree Rehal guides us through the spaces in the city where they feel safe and cared f...
26 May 2021
Gendai: Collective Futures
“I'm one of those people who believe deeply in the suburbs as a place of brilliance. It’s a place of complexity, but a place of brilliance too … What do we need for collective work to happen, be supported, and to create the conditions for brilliance to not be an exception, but for brilliance to be the constant.” Part 1 Throughout its 20-year history, Gendai has led experimental curatorial and organizational practices for East Asian artists and artists of colour. As the new s...
14 Apr 2021
Aljumaine Gayle & Car Martin: Quayside Futures
Part 1 “The Traust Governance Group does not prioritize corporate greed or support the state agenda to surveil and track individuals. We believe that trust is significantly more important than surveillance.” Welcome to QPL Arcology, an audio worlding experience created by Aljumaine Gayle and Car Martin. A mash-up of architecture and ecology, arcologies exist in the worlds of speculative fiction. In this particular speculative narrative, a tree at the base of Parliament...
17 Mar 2021
Javid Jah: Sacred Futures
Part 1 “The sacred can take on plastic forms, it can take on compositions of colours, textures. It can be brought into the physical world and remind us of its spiritual origin.” Artist and designer Javid Jah guides us through his sacred spaces in the city – from quiet moments alone on the subway platform; to the synesthetic bustle of Kensington Market; and to the Madinah Masjid, where he reflects on the sacred geometry embedded within Islamic architecture, which connects our huma...
2 Feb 2021
Midnight Wolverine: Indigiqueer Futures
Part 1 “My queer identity is not a linear spectrum, it’s a whole spectrum. It allows movement, and there’s space within that circle to exist, and breathe, and shift.” Indigenous Queer performer and poet Midnight Wolverine guides us through Humber River, Yonge-Dundas Square, and Glad Day Bookshop to envision futures connected to the history of the land, ceremony, and queerness, in a city that sits in tension with their Indigeneity. Midnight Wolverine is Tkaronto's late night...
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