Wearable design technology was developed by the Social Body Lab. Founded in 2010, Social Body Lab is an art, design, and research lab at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada that explores body-centric technologies in the social context.
Kate Hartman is the Co-Director and Founder of Social Body Lab (est. 2010) - a creative research group dedicated to exploring body-centric technologies. Working between Toronto and New York, Hartman is Associate Professor in Digital Futures at OCAD University, Adjunct Instructor in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and Director of ITP Camp - an innovative creative technology summer program for grown-ups.
As an artist, designer, and researcher, Hartman probes the nuances and awkward bits of human and more-than-human social interactions. Through wearable technologies and electronic textiles, Hartman explores new possibilities for expressivity, tactility, and embodiment. Hartman delivered a main stage TED talk about her social wearables projects which has since garnered over one million views. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Hartman is the author of the recently published book "Make: Wearable Electronics, 2nd edition" (2025) which is used widely by independent artists and designers and also as a textbook in university wearable technology courses internationally.
Adam Tindale is an electronic drummer and digital instrument designer. He is an Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the Digital Futures Initiative at OCAD University. Adam performs on his E-Drumset: a new electronic instrument that utilizes physical modeling and machine learning with an intuitive physical interface. He completed a Bachelor of Music at Queen’s University, a Masters of Music Technology at McGill University, and an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Music, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Victoria.
Darío Peñaloza is a Venezuelan Sound Engineer with a 43-year career, graduated from the Institute of Audio Research and the Recording Institute of America in New York. He graduated with honors from Fanshawe College of Applied Arts in Ontario, Canada, in 1983. He has dedicated his career primarily to music, both in the studio and live, in addition to working on dubbing in the Spanish language. His work as a Mixing Engineer has led him to be the winner of a Latin Grammy for
Engineering in 2014 (C4 Trío/Rafael Pollo Brito - De repente) and Instrumental in 2018 (Miguel Siso - Identidad).
At the same time, since 2015, he has been a teacher at several Academies dedicated to Audio in Latin America and is an active member of AES (Audio Engineering Society) in the region. In August 2020, he published his first book, “THE HUMAN SIDE OF AUDIO, beyond the technical and theoretical”. He has been the image of brands like Genelec and Steinberg for some years.
Since mid 2022, he has resided in Mexico City.
CAMERON ANDERSON (Scenic Design) is an internationally acclaimed American scenographer and has designed extensively at the world's leading theatre and opera companies. She recently won the Billie Tsien Rome Prize in Design, one of the most prestigious awards an American artist can receive. Recent projects include The Light in the Piazza at Opera Theater of St. Louis, popstar Charlie Puth's North American and international tours, Leonora (Chicago Opera Theater), the world premiere opera RUR: A Torrent of Light (Tapestry Opera, Toronto), which won the Best New Opera in North America award (MCANA), and the past two full seasons at The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Other recent highlights include West Side Story (Kilden Performing Arts Center, Norway, Vancouver Opera), and Simon Boccanegra (Teatro Colon, Argentina), Byhalia Mississippi (The Kennedy Center), The Niceties (Manhattan Theatre Club), Yerma, Becoming Cuba, and Sweat (Huntington Theater), Fille du Regiment, The Consul, Vinkensport, The Merry Widow, and Rocking Horse Winner (Opera Saratoga), and Photograph 51 (South Coast Repertory). Select opera credits include Glimmerglass Festival, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Central City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, and On Site Opera. Select Off-Broadway credits include Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwrights' Horizons, New Georges, LAByrinth Theater Company, Naked Angels, Ars Nova, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Upcoming projects include Falstaff at The Minnesota Opera, the full season of operas at The Academy of Vocal Arts, and Orlando Paladino at The Curtis Institute. cameronanderson.net
Nick Puckett explores the near-future of the built environment through new tools and technologies that alter the process and product of design. He is an Associate Professor in the Digital Futures Program at OCAD University, where he also serves as Co-Director of the Social Body Lab. He is the founding director of Puckett Research & Design, a practice that develops interactive environments spanning software, robotics, biological agents, chemical engineering, and material behaviour.
His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Venice Architecture Biennale, Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism & Architecture, International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville, Art Institute of Chicago, ZKM Museum, FRAC Centre, and the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Nathan is a Toronto based Projection and Lighting Designer and New Media Artist. Recent theatre credits include Orpheus in the Underworld (Projection and Lighting Design, Toronto City Opera), Parelios (Projection Design, Opera5), Canuck Cantatas (Projection and Lighting Design, Against the Grain), Copperbelt (Associate Lighting Design, Soulpepper), Rogers V. Rogers (Video Design, Crows Theatre & touring production), Tapestry Briefs (Lighting Design, Tapestry Opera), Feed-Back (Co-Projection Design, The Bentway), Octet (Video Design, Crows Theatre); Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Video Design, The Royal Alexandra Theatre); The Tender Land (Projection Design, Al Green Theatre), Reina (Lighting Design, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre), Shedding Skin (Associate Lighting Design, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre), and Die Zauberlote. Recent installation/exhibition credits include Try To Forget (Artist, St. Anne’s Anglican Church, Long Winter); After The Flood (Co-Artist, Charles Street Video); Love Across Distance (Co-Artist, The ArQuives, Nuit Blanche 2024).
Annie Jin Wang is a dramaturg and generative artist for new plays, musicals, and opera. Notable credits include Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG with a new book by David Henry Hwang, HILDEGARD by Sarah Kirkland Snider (NY Times Critics' Pick), LEGENDARY by Cheeyang Ng (Relentless Award Finalist), and SALESMAN之死 by Jeremy Tiang (Obie Award). She is a frequent collaborator with Beth Morrison Projects, Musical Theatre Factory, the O’Neill National Playwriting & Musical Theatre Conferences, and the Playwrights’ Center. Annie is the Associate Artistic Director at East West Players in Los Angeles, where she leads new work and artistic development programs. Previously, she served as Associate Director for Artistic Programming at PlayCo and taught at BerkleeNYC and Marymount Manhattan College. Annie holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University School of the Arts and BAs in Art History & Cinema and Media Studies from Wellesley College. wang-annie.com
