EXHIBITION: DIYing Free for DesignTO

January 18, 2019 - January 27, 2019

DIYing Free: Special Exhibition by Taboo Health
for DesignTO at Critical Distance

Opening Reception: January 17th, 6–9 pm

Critical Distance is pleased to participate in the 2019 edition of DesignTO Festival as host to Taboo Health’s interactive exhibition, DIYing Free, by artist Justin Tyler TateThis special exhibition is a part of the captivating DesignTO Festival event series, Dying

Organized by Taboo Health and OCAD University’s Design Studio, DIYing Free at Critical Distance is one of three exhibitions in their event series (along with Until the Last Breath and Time Moving in the 2nd Floor Hallway Gallery) that will take place at Artscape Youngplace in conjunction with Design Week, January 18–27 2019.

About DIYing Free

An exhibition of a do-it-yourself cardboard coffin seeks to turn death into a sustainable enterprise through design, technology, and open source methods, while daring you to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Come on in and stay a while, for this is a unique chance for the living to get cozy with one of life’s certainties…death.

In 2008 in the US alone, 1.8 million bodies were buried in coffins that resulted in the approximate disposal of 1,632,932 kilograms of material, not including the energy used in the processing of the materials for those coffins, such as shipping, labor, manufacturing, finishing, et cetera. In this speculative project we ask: Can we promote a process of death which uses design, recycled materials, and technology for a more ecological practice of grieving? We can’t stop from dying but we can die smarter—we can D-I-Y.

Grim or enlightening? Curious or distasteful? You make your call at this quirky installation that is part of the multi-site Death and Dying installation series.


Design TO Festival logoTaboo Health logo

About the Artists

Justin Tyler Tate

Justin Tyler Tate’s work combines elements of sculpture, installation, media, performance as well as a social art. His practice draws knowledge from various fields and marries them in order to find solutions to contemporary problems. Architecture, carpentry, botany, cooking, electronics, chemistry, new media, and more are all merged under aFind out more

About our Partners + Co-presenters

Taboo Health

We are comfortable with the uncomfortable. We are a non-profit collective of health educators, creatives, and advocates. We curate public and and interactive art events that explore the most difficult health topics. Learn more about us here.Find out more

DesignTO

Canada’s leading (and largest) annual design festival celebrates design as a multidisciplinary form of creative thinking and making, with over 100 exhibitions and events forming Toronto’s design week, January 17-26, 2020. Since 2011, DesignTO has been bringing communities together to celebrate design, by taking art and design out of theFind out more