COVID has produced the greatest big tech experiment of our time, driving everything – from education to cultural programming, health and wellness to social interaction – online. It seems likely that this newfound dependence on the digital realm is here to stay, and that public life post-COVID will continue to move back and forth between digital and physical platforms.
The Bentway’s new Digital and/as Public Space initiative will explore the interaction between digital and physical space in order to re-examine public space, overcome access barriers, promote civic engagement, and support community resilience in online, offline, and hybrid contexts.
To help steer the development of this initiative, The Bentway has partnered with Toronto-based studio, From Later, a transdisciplinary team whose work focuses on understanding change and building possible futures.
Digital and/as Public Space will also include eight micro-residencies that will explore hybrid public realms that embrace elements from both physical spaces and digital spaces. Together with The Bentway and From Later, they will investigate how hybrid spaces are defined, created, and maintained. Research findings will then be incorporated into The Bentway’s Field Guide to the Digital Real.
creative projects
supporters
Digital and/as Public Space is an initiative by The Bentway and From Later, with design by Nomadic Labs and support from the Balsam Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.
