Antje Budde (安琪 。布得）

• Antje Budde is the queer-feminist, happily Brechtian artistic research director of the Digital Dramaturgy Lab_squared (DDL2), a theatre director, participatory installation artist and exhibition maker, dramaturg, and digital dramaturg. Between 1995-2018 Antje has co-founded multiple arts and performing arts collectives in Germany and Canada. Antje's interdisciplinary, multi-lingual, multi-media, video and experimental performance and installation works have been presented locally and internationally. Antje holds an MA and PhD in Theatre Sciences/Cultural Communication and Modern Chinese Studies from Humboldt Universität, Berlin. Antje took courses on puppet/object animation and rhetoric at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch", Berlin and studied modern Chinese theatre and its experimental praxis at the Central Academy of Drama 中央戏剧学院, Beijing. 

• Currently Antje is very interested in figuring out what artistic intelligence A/I might be as the weaponized buzzword hype cycle of artificial intelligence AI is causing daily concussions of the human brain. (beware of satire and clown's noses, so central to Antje's outlook on the world's mess) More Info

Mark Chignell

• Mark Chignell has a Ph.D in Psychology and a Masters in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Since 1990 he has been a Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. He carries out research in human factors and user interface design, with particular interest in healthcare, cybersecurity, and aging. In 2016 he founded Centivizer Inc. (www.centivizer.com), to develop technologies such as 2RaceWithMe, and BrainTagger, that improve physical and cognitive function in older people.  

You Zhi Hu with Audrey Tian and Jinfeng Wu

• You Zhi Hu is currently a third-year Ph.D. student studying human factors engineering. During her undergraduate studies, she double-majored in cognitive science and statistics, with a minor in computer science. With a background in cognitive science, she has been working with Professor Chignell since her master‘s on multiple studies on evaluating the efficacy of online cognitive assessment games aimed at assessing the cognitive abilities of older adults. Her current Ph.D. research focuses on the development and evaluation of virtual reality applications combined with psychotherapy to reduce social anxiety and promote mental wellness.

Kwame Kyei-Boateng

• A recent graduate of York University’s Digital Media Master’s Program, Kwame Kyei-Boateng is a digital artist based in Toronto, whose works explore the human, the machine, and the in-between. Kwame approaches his digital art through a human-centred narrative lens, with the aim of telling stories and shaping experiences. With an inclination toward participatory and collaborative experiences, his works involve interactive play between virtual environments/visualisations and the self, with the ultimate goal of facilitating deeper introspection of oneself and one's place in society and the greater universe.

 

Jacob Loat​

• Jacob Loat is a VR performance and culture specialist with a background in theatre, game development, and virtual art. During their time as a graduate student at York University, they specialized in the creation of alternative multi-user domains designed to explore notions of social embodiment within virtual space and blending of our identities with the technology we use to communicate. As a freelance artist and developer in the Greater Toronto Area, they have contributed to the development of various XR gallery installations, unique works of VR performance art, and therapeutic applications. Their work largely resist notions of ‘life-like’ or ‘seamless’ virtual experiences in favor of creating radically alien spaces which challenge the distinction between the individual and their environment.

Evan Moritz

• Evan Moritz (he/him) is a PhD cadidate at the University of Toronto’s Center for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies. He is interested in the outer limits of science-fiction and fact with performance and research exploring the history and future of habitation, the Canadian Arctic, Indigeneity & settler colonialism, planetary catastrophe on Earth & off, and the impact of science fiction on contemporary practices. His project, Performing Arctic Habitation: Mars Analogue Research and Inuit Katajjaq as Meso-level Iterations of the Planetary, explores the role performance plays in understanding habitation, local biomes, planetary effects, and extraterrestrial exploration.

Ilja Mirsky

• Ilja Mirsky has been a (digital) dramaturg at the Residenztheater in Munich since the 2022/2023 season. From 2019 to 2022, he served as a dramaturg and occasionally as a programmer at the Institute for Theatrical Future Research at the Zimmertheater in Tübingen. He is pursuing a doctorate on theater and digitality at the University of Tübingen and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), and he is an associate in the doctoral program "Epistemologies of Aesthetic Practices" at the Collegium Helveticum in Zurich. Ilja studied cognitive sciences at the University of Tübingen, as well as politics, literature, and psychology at the University of Haifa (Israel), and earned a Master's degree in Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg. For his master's thesis, in which he examined choreography at the intersection of reality and VR, he was awarded the 2020 research prize by the Society for Dance Research. His international artistic work is characterized by a focus on VR/AR, AI, and digitalization.
   

Noah Zijie Qu

• Noah (Zijie) Qu is an interdisciplinary researcher with experience in applied Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, visual and interaction design, and digital storytelling. He is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering at the University of Toronto. He has expertise in practice-based research involving human-centered design, along with training and experience in relevant skills (including programming, qualitative/quantitative data analysis, statistical methods and experimental design). His research and coursework at the University of Toronto and the Royal College of Art provides him with valuable skills in designing and developing technology prototypes, including voice assistants, virtual/augmented reality systems and digital games.

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Audrey Tian 

• Audrey (Jiaxin) Tian is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, majoring in Industrial Engineering with minors in Artificial Intelligence Engineering, Engineering Business, and Bioengineering. She is currently a research assistant at the Interactive Media Lab, working on a VR therapy project "Virtual Forest" with Youzhi Hu. She has experience in human-centered design research and possesses skills in programming, data analysis, and machine learning. Her research interests include human factors and the intersection of AI technology and psychology.

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Shiu Hei Larry Ng

• ​Larry Ng is a registered drama therapist and a certified Feldenkrais Method® practitioner. He has also professional trainings in Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy (Level 2), Neuro-Dramatic-Play (Advanced Diploma) and TSM Psychodrama (Level 1). As an artist, he was trained in Physical and Devising Theatre (Lecoq approach) and Corporeal Mime (Decroux system). He practices different kinds of applied theatre modalities, including Playback Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed, Process Drama, etc. Academically, he is trained in philosophy (BA, 1st hon. & MPhil degree) and drama education (MEd), and Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies (MA).

Don Sinclair 

• :: is a professor and has served as Chair of the Department of Computational Arts,  Graduate Program Director of the new Graduate Program in Digital Media and co-coordinator of the Digital Media Program in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University.

• :: is a digital media artist/researcher - projects and documentation

• :: teaches digital media...

• :: rides his bicycles. a lot.

• More Info

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Jinfeng Wu

• ​Jinfeng (Jim) Wu is currently a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, double majoring in Cognitive Science and Psychology. He is involved in the Interactive Media Lab as a research assistant in the VR therapy experiment "Virtual Forest" by Youzhi Hu. He is passionate about the cross-disciplinary integration of computer science and psychology, especially when applied to enhancing user interaction and wellness through technology. His interests include Cognitive & Behavioral Psychology, User experience, and Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.