Toronto 2033 is a project by Spacing to help celebrate the magazine’s 15th anniversary by looking 15 years into the future. Through a combination of short stories, podcasts, and films, this group of local sci-fi authors imagine a future of a city grappling with extreme weather and serious public health issues. From suspicious neighbours to gated neighbourhoods, sanitary drones to open-source surveillance, we take you into the daily lives of Toronto residents in 2033.

In Elyse Freidman’s story We Have Everything, They Have Nothing, the main character uses a visual mobile device called an iEye (a contact lens/eyewear that projects smartphone-like information on to your eyeball). Inspired by this tidbit in Friedman’s story, Spacing’s creative director Matthew Blackett and visual effects artist Sam Javanrouh team up to bring you a short newscast of Spacing Stream, the magazine’s iEye content service in 2033.

Mathew Borrett has worked with Spacing since it’s launch in 2003 and the relationship continues with Toronto 2033. Borrett created hyper-realistic illustrations for each story that literally paint a different version of Toronto than we know today. We sit down with Borrett to explore how he creates this unique visions of the city.