The Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery (JNAAG) is hosting a lecture this week with artist Mark Reinhart to go over imagined futures for downtown Sarnia.
Community Art and Education Coordinator Anna Miccolis said the event, scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 25, is connected to a current installation at the gallery called "Future Community Blueprint."
"We've been inviting members of the community, visitors, to the art gallery to think about the strengths and weaknesses in our local region," she said. "Identify those strengths and weaknesses and then imagine how we preserve our strengths and improve upon those weaknesses going forward into the future."
People were asked to share their vision of the future with the gallery, which resulted in an augmented reality visualization.
"To kind of cap off this installation, this conversation is happening [as] another step forward for people to have an opportunity to talk about their ideas," Miccolis said. "[To] talk about what works, what doesn't, why they want that in this community, and also to review the submissions that were presented from the public over the past few months."
Nearly 500 submissions have been collected and archived, and can be viewed on JNAAG's website.
The purpose of this event is purely for creativity's sake. While some submissions for what people imagine in the future are perhaps more ideal, others are a little more 'out of the box.'
"We also see some mythical or maybe newly evolved species of animals that may exist in the future," she said. "We also see fundamental things like sustainable energy, solar panels up on the roofs of buildings, green spaces, and lots of gardens -- vertical gardens on buildings. So I imagine we'll have space for that in this conversation on [May 25]."
Registration for the lecture is required and can be done online.
For those unable to participate, Miccolis said the augmented reality visualization will be available at the gallery for people to view until the end of July.
-With files from Melanie Irwin