Arcadia Earth has opened in Toronto. The brand new exhibit at the Well aims to educate visitors on their environmental impact through stunning art and interactive augmented reality designs.

The idea for Arcadia Earth originally came from New York-based experiential designer Valentino Vettori.

View more images of Arcadia Earth in this photo gallery

The exhibit has previously appeared in New York City, Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia, but the Toronto version, which had its grand opening on Nov. 30, will be its first permanent home.

The 17,000 square-foot, 10 room exhibit uses floor-to-ceiling projections, designs with recycled and upcycled materials and more for you to learn about different ecosystems, animals and how we affect the environment.

To experience Arcadia Earth, you're either given a tablet to interact with special, scannable AR tokens in each room, or you need to download the Arcadia Earth AR Toronto app.

You can interact with the virtual animals via the tablet or app to learn more about them or just take in the visuals.

Craig Perlmutter, president of Arcadia Earth Toronto, told me that some of the exhibits were taken from previous Arcadia editions.

But there's brand new displays, like a throne made out of over 3,000 pounds of electronic waste made by Toronto artist Benjamin Von Wong.

Von Wong also contributed his giant plastic waste tap, which made an appearance in Kenya back in March 22 when the UN adopted a mandate to create a global plastic waste treaty.

The 'Fishtainable' room features lounge chairs made out of fishing nets and ropes with educational voiceovers nestled inside.

My favourite room was the Scent Room, which walks you through the honey bee's pollination process.

It includes every scent of that process, from the smell of pasture to a relaxed evening storm and of course, the honey.

This is all encased around recycled library books designed to look like giant noses with an expansive, cavernous ceiling.

One room, called 'Regenerate Canada,' made in partnership with WWF-Canada, involves interacting with projections on the floor to learn more about wildlife and their habitats.

There was another room, called 'From Within', that wasn't quite ready yet. When I saw it, the tunnel-like room still had its 2,000 LED lights arrayed around the walls.

Perlmutter told me the plan was to get that room up and running "soon," and also that anyone who buys a ticket before then will get emailed another free ticket to experience the new room once its ready.

When that happens, it'll feature an underwater scene, one with lakes and rivers as well as a forest scene.

Arcadia Earth ends with a chance to figure out your own carbon footprint and a VR room for one last in-your-face experience.

For the record, my carbon footprint result was 1.83 metric tonnes. The exhibit told me that was far below the North American average of about 15 tonnes.

Perlmutter was in New York City in February 2020 to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs when he stopped by that version of Arcadia. He says that he was so inspired by what he saw, he knew it had to come to Toronto. 

"Our motto is to inform, inspire and activate. So we want to inform people when they come in and inspire them about the environment, inspire them about different species and things that we can do to save the planet," he says.

"And activate them by giving them real things that they can do, whether it's changing some of their purchasing (or) different lifestyle habits that they can change."

Craig Perlmutter.

The Toronto edition first started designing the space about 18 months ago.

Before spearheading Arcadia Earth Toronto, Perlmutter ran a summer camp near Algonquin Park with his wife.

The future of Arcadia Earth

Although the plan is to stick around Toronto, Perlmutter also hopes that the exhibit can be updated every 12 to 18 months. He mentioned electric vehicles and circular fashion as possible topics for future rooms.

Aside from the typical merch you'd expect, the gift shop also has goods from Canadian, sustainable small businesses — like the husband and wife-run Heritage Bee Co. based out of Creemore, Ont.

"They care about the environment, and those are the people you want to highlight here," he says.

Perlmutter says that Arcadia is always looking to feature more eco-friendly small businesses in its storefront. He also mentioned plans to have an e-bike company show off their wares.

Tyrus Lam was able to attend for free on Friday, thanks to his job at Warner Bros. Music, which is also located in The Well. He told me he liked the interactivity, and that his favourite room was 'Fishtainable.'

View more images of Arcadia Earth in this photo gallery

Tickets to Arcadia Earth range from $24 to $39, with $2 from every purchase donated to WWF-Canada.

There are special rates for groups of 10 or more, and it's also available for corporate events.