Awesome Foundation releases its first Toronto shortlist

A few weeks ago I wrote about the arrival of the Awesome Foundation to Toronto. At the time, the trustees were in the midst of soliciting ideas for its first monthly award of $1000. With the submission process — which was a pretty much anything goes affair — having closed on February 15th, the Foundation has now released its shortlist of 16 ideas (culled from the more than 250 it received).

To some extent, this is the best part. Not to take anything away from the eventual winner, but reading a variety of off-beat ideas is more entertaining than just one — well, within reasonable limits, anyway. I probably wouldn't want to wade through all 250 (or whatever the exact number was), but the shortlist is certainly worth a perusal, even if some are quite obviously more creative than others. Here are a few of my favourites. The full list can be read on the Awesome Foundation's blog. The winner will be announced on February 24th at the Drake Hotel.

• The Jesus Machine: A giant vat full of cornstarch and water. A non-Newtonian liquid that lets everyone walk across the surface.
• Cardboard Fort Night!: Come and make giant forts out of cardboard and duct tape.
• Connect the T-dots: Painting large dots and numbers on the roofs of buildings to turn aerial and satellite views of Toronto into a giant connect-the-dots puzzle.
• Rob Ford Bat Signal: Send a text whenever you are in need of our valiant and personally responsive Mayor! Projects a giant gravy train bat signal into the night sky.
• Baggage Dumping Ground: 500 pieces of vintage luggage, sourced from local stores, into which passersby can drop personal notes leaving behind their emotional baggage.
• Spontaneous Singing Using Buildings: Choral music performed in unusual places with amazing acoustics.

Photo by Minnosma in the blogTO Flickr pool.