World's top thought-leaders on water and waterfronts get together at downtown Toronto's last remaining public waterfront access point, the Walter Kehm Swimdock, by the entrance to Trillium Park at Ontario Place. Amid closures and privatization of public waterfront spaces, our waterfront is increasingly being denatured by authorities who are not users of the waterfront, i.e. by officials who neither swim, nor paddle, nor row in the water. The recent closure of pedestrian access to downtown Toronto's cleanest beach (Micheal Hough Beach at Ontario Place) has created a water-access crisis for many who depend on water access for health and wellbeing. Meanwhile authorities are bouldering over other public beaches, rendering them unfit for human use.
Accordingly, we call for those who actually use the waterfront to chart its future. We'll showcase some of the latest technologies such as a virtual reality spinal rehabiltation ride that runs on the surface of the water, underwater virtual reality headsets, and the world's first underwater musical instrument, the hydraulophone. We'll have presentations by XR (eXtended Reality) inventor Steve Mann, Waterfront for All founder Ed Hore, and Niv Froehlich, Director of Paddle Canada Stand Up Paddleboard & Kayak Programs. We'll also launch Denaturement, an art installation + pub concept featuring denatured beer, wine, and spirts, i.e. for display purposes only. Buck-a-beer everwhere, but not a drop to drink. Denaturement is a metaphor for Toronto's sad waterfront state where water is seen as a visual backdrop without safe easy access into and out of the water. The event will begin at 4PM at the Ontario Place Swimdock (Wlater Kehm Swimdock), found just south of Trillium park in downtown Toronto.