In 2023, we brought together scholars, activists, community members, artists, and performers, to explore a diversity of compelling contemporary issues.
From everyone at the Provocation Ideas Festival, thank you for your participation and support. Because of you, Provocation is able to succeed in its mission of fostering public spaces for spirited discussion, debate, and exploration.
During the past few months, people have come together to discover new ideas, share their perspectives, and deepen their sense of community at Provocation events. We have been thrilled by the response.
If you missed this year's Provocation events, video recordings and images from many of the panels and performances are now available below.
Susan Neiman
American moral philosopher and author Susan Neiman discusses how the political left is shifting from universalism to tribalism.
Monday, March 27 at 7pm
Bram & Bluma Appel Salon
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge Street
Toronto
Having written extensively on the enlightenment, moral philosophy, metaphysics, and politics, Neiman's work shows that philosophy is a living force for contemporary thinking and action. In her new book Left is Not Woke, Neiman argues that the concept of ”wokeism” conflicts with the foundational ideals of universalism that have guided the left for over 200 years.
Question and answer session and book signing to follow. Books available for purchase.
Presented in partnership with CBC Ideas and the Toronto Public Library.
Join the Provocation Ideas Festival for a discussion about the pros and cons of AI image generators. This discussion will explore how these artificial intelligence technologies work, the ethical considerations such as copyright implications, and the opportunities and challenges these tools create for the arts community.
Featuring:
Wednesday, May 3 • 2–3pm
Hinton Learning Theatre
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge Street
Toronto
Presented in partnership with the Toronto Public Library.
Explore the natural beauty of the Etobicoke waterfront and learn about opportunities for affordable housing, good local jobs, food security, public park and nature preservation, as well as community benefits and wealth building for all.
There will be two walks of about 60 minutes each, rain or shine. All are welcome. The walks are accessible and pet friendly.
Sunday, May 7 at 10am
Meet at 65 Colonel Sam Smith Drive
Etobicoke
Sunday, May 7 at 1pm
Meet at LAMP Community Health Centre
185 Fifth St
Etobicoke
Presented in partnership with
Jane's Walk,
Toronto Community Benefits Network,
Community Benefits South Etobicoke,
Lakeshore Affordable Housing Advocacy & Action Group, and
LAMP Community Health Centre.
An exhibition of works from both local and global artists that were made with, or are about, generative AI. The flourishing of AI tools is reshaping the artistic landscape, challenging traditional gatekeeping and offering a radical shift from scarcity to abundance. The artists, each interpreting their unique relationship with these transformative tools, will prompt you to rethink art, culture, and labour in a world shared with AI, our intellectual offspring. Join us in this journey, as we explore and celebrate art-making in a world shared with new forms of intelligence who have learned, for better or worse, all that they know from us.
May 17–20 • Sundown–11pm: Innis College Courtyard, U of T (Presented in partnership with National Shows Systems)
May 27–28 • 11am-6pm: Inter/Access during Doors Open Toronto
May 28–June 11: Libraries around the Greater Toronto Area
June 9: Transmigrations concert at the Toronto Reference Library
June 12–15 • 12–4pm: Gales Gallery at York University
One of the most talked about experiences at PIF 2022, the Trophy storytelling tents are returning for PIF 2023. Each tent will feature someone telling the true story of a moment in their life when everything changed. This year's stories will focus on technology: how it impacts individual transformation, collective change, and the ways we see each other.
Move through the community of stories and visit different tents. As time passes, these will transform into multi-coloured structures covered in stories of change. Trophy is a living monument to the experiences that make up our lives and a compelling conversation about change.
Friday, May 19 • 7:30–9pm
Saturday, May 20 • 1–2:30pm
Innis College Courtyard
University of Toronto
A thought-provoking and dynamic discussion focused on the implications of digital technology. Panelists will explore probing questions about digital's impacts on democracy, free speech, media ethics, equity and diversity, privacy, and trust. How have these technologies influenced public engagement and understanding?
Featuring:
Saturday, May 20 • 10:15–11:15am
Innis Town Hall
University of Toronto
As artificial intelligence surges into use and into the public discourse, important questions have been raised about its use and the need for regulation. How is this new technology likely to be applied in the media, art, healthcare, and politics? What are AI's inherent limitations and how will its development intersect with other important public debates?
Featuring:
Saturday, May 20 • 11:30am–12:30pm
Innis Town Hall
University of Toronto
Step into this theatrical way station between our present and future, a playful place to pause and reflect on our shared humanity and the ever-evolving technology landscape. This performance installation beckons you to ponder our digital future and what keeps us grounded as humans. Experience interactive stations where your input shapes a one-of-a-kind dance performance by our Spirit of Reflection and conclude with a unique sensory prescription tailored just for you. Don't miss this chance to connect, create, and dance your way into our collective tomorrow.
Featuring:
Saturday, May 20 • 3–4pm
Innis College Courtyard
University of Toronto
Foragers depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humour and a meditative pace.  Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee, and Jerusalem, it employs fiction, documentary, and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. By reframing the terms and constraints of preservation, the film raises questions around the politics of extinction, namely who determines what is made extinct and what gets to live on.
Following the film, there will be a panel discussion about the ways in which occupation and colonialism have disrupted traditional ways of life—including traditional methods of foraging, hunting, and fishing. The panel will consider the ways in which Indigenous communities continue to be affected by colonial policies, the parallels between the occupation in Palestine and colonialism in Canada, and how Indigenous communities can reclaim their food sovereignty.
Featuring:
Saturday, May 20 • 7:30–9pm
Innis Town Hall
University of Toronto
Presented in partnership with the
Toronto Arab Film Festival
and the
Mosaic Institute.
With 24-hour news, the need to uncover truth fast and first can lead to dangerous outcomes, invasion of privacy, misrepresentation, trauma, and injury. This critical conversation will delve into the complexities, issues and realities of reporting crime, specifically as it pertains to representing criminals and those affected by crime and the media’s role in reporting on crime on a wide scale.
Join top legal scholar Kent Roach and award-winning journalist Tamara Cherry for an enlightening conversation. Cherry’s book Trauma Beat is a groundbreaking combination of investigative journalism and memoir, and a thorough examination of the trauma caused by the media’s coverage of crimes. Cherry will speak to her own documentation of those who were forced to suffer on the public stage, exposing a system set up to fail trauma survivors and journalists alike. Roach will speak about the themes in his own book Wrongfully Convicted, offering his expertise on Canada’s national tragedy of wrongful convictions and how anyone could be caught up in them. Roach’s work reveals how the burden of wrongful convictions falls disproportionately on the disadvantaged, including Indigenous and racialized people, those with cognitive issues, single mothers and the poor.
During the event, Adrian Hayles will be documenting the conversation with a set of loose, court-room style portraits of speakers.
Featuring:
Part of the MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival
Friday, June 2 • 7–8:15pm
Studio Theatre
Harbourfront Centre's main building
Presented in partnership with the
Toronto International Festival of Authors.
As the true crime phenomena becomes continually more prevalent, it offers the opportunity of reinterpreting historical narratives and giving voice to previously marginalized, misrepresented voices. Canadian authors Susan Goldenberg, Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson explore class, gender representation and how prejudice leads to miscarriages of justice in this fascinating critical conversation, moderated by author and podcaster Catherine Fogarty.
Goldenberg’s book Deadly Triangle focusses on the 1935 trial of Alma Rattenbury and her chauffeur George Percy Stoner for the murder of Alma’s husband – a trial which became one of the 20th century’s most sensational cases, sparking widespread debate over sexual mores and social strata distinctions. Cook and Carson co-authored The Castledon Massacre, which painstakingly traces the causes of a 1963 massacre by a former United Church minister who murdered four women and two unborn babies in his own family. Carson, the eldest of two children who survived the Castleton massacre, contributes to the book’s extensive oral history. Situated in literature on domestic abuse and mass murders, the book questions what led to this act of femicide, and why the victims were forgotten.
During the event, Adrian Hayles will be documenting the conversation with a set of loose, court-room style portraits of speakers.
Featuring:
Part of the MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival
Saturday, June 3 • 6:30–7:15pm
Studio Theatre
Harbourfront Centre's main building
Presented in partnership with the
Toronto International Festival of Authors.
The relationship between the law and people living with mental health illness is complex. There are many misconceptions about mental illnesses and a poor understanding of how people with serious mental health issues wind up in the criminal justice system. Although the vast majority of people living with mental health and addictions conditions rarely come into contact with the criminal justice system, there is an over-representation of them in Canadian courts and correctional/remand facilities.
When incarcerated, they often face a variety of challenges that can worsen their symptoms, resulting in a population that exhibits substantially higher mental health concerns than in the general population, and with reduced access to critically needed health services.
Justice activist and former probation and parole officer Katie Almond, defence lawyer Ranney Hintsa, developmental justice case manager Melissa McMillan and forensic psychiatrist Derek Pallandi will come together for an expert discussion on how, government, communities, police and social service providers must work closely together to protect those who are vulnerable from entering the criminal justice system; and address the social determinants of health to prevent a repetitive cycle from occurring.
During the event, Adrian Hayles will be documenting the conversation with a set of loose, court-room style portraits of speakers.
Featuring:
Part of the MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival
Sunday, June 4 • 1:30–2:30pm
Stage in the Park
Harbourfront Centre's West Lawn
Presented in partnership with the
Toronto International Festival of Authors.
Cryptocurrency fraud. Hacking. Data breaches. Why is crime moving from the shady streets to the internet superhighway and the dark web?
In this critical conversation, deep dive into cybercrime with award-winning novelist Vaseem Khan; Cameron Field, vice-president at VIDOCQ, a firm which designs tailored investigation, intelligence and risk management solutions; and Kenrick Bagnall, Vice-President, Cyber Task Force and CISO at the Cyber Security Global Alliance. Khan brings expertise to the subject from his ongoing work at the Department of Security and Crime Science at University College London. Field specializes in complex fraud, anti-money laundering, corporate due diligence, and risk assessment evaluations. Bagnall has 17 years of law enforcement experience, and shares his expertise as a cybersecurity instructor, writer, and host of the KONCYBER podcast. Find out what factors are leading to the rise in cybercrime and how the average person can protect their safety online.
Moderator: Kenrick Bagnall
During the event, Adrian Hayles will be documenting the conversation with a set of loose, court-room style portraits of speakers.
Featuring:
Part of the MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival
Sunday, June 4 • 7:30–8:15pm
Studio Theatre
Harbourfront Centre's main building
Presented in partnership with the
Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This free concert will weave together immersive live music with a series of emotive visuals created with artificial intelligence. Themed around immigration, culture, remix, and the interplay of language and imagery, in Transmigrations the music and visuals explore a universe of cross pollination, drawing from Dhaivat Jani’s personal experience and Toronto’s diversity.
The music components and visual components will be linked and controlled in tandem so that if one aspect is changed it will be reflected in both the visuals and music. Parts of the piece will be controlled by real-time polling of the audience using their phones.
Featuring:
Friday, June 9 • 7–8pm
Beeton Hall
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge Street
Toronto
Presented in partnership with the Toronto Public Library.
With deep empathy, rigorous reporting, and the irresistible perspective of a true romantic, journalist Anna Lekas Miller spotlights couples around the world who confront frustrating immigration systems to be together—as she did to be with her husband.
“Love Across Borders is a powerful and unforgettable testament to the humanity and love that prevail in spite of borders. This is a book that will make you weep, rage, and fight for the change our world deserves.”
At the 2023 Adelman Lecture, hear readings from Miller’s newly published book and a panel discussion from experts and artists with lived experience of forced migration and love across borders.
Featuring:
Tuesday, June 13 • 7–8:30pm
Accolades West Building, Room 109
York University
Presented in partnership with the
York University Centre for Refugee Studies and
Luminato.
An exhibition of works from both local and global artists that were made with, or are about, generative AI. The flourishing of AI tools is reshaping the artistic landscape, challenging traditional gatekeeping and offering a radical shift from scarcity to abundance. The artists, each interpreting their unique relationship with these transformative tools, will prompt you to rethink art, culture, and labour in a world shared with AI, our intellectual offspring. Join us in this journey, as we explore and celebrate art-making in a world shared with new forms of intelligence who have learned, for better or worse, all that they know from us.
Jun 12–15 • 12–4pm
Gales Gallery at York University
Accolade West Building