PECHA KUCHA – Reimagine Horizons – Oct 9 at William Doo Auditorium

Kathleen Cherrington

Bio:

Kathleen Cherrington is a PhD candidate in Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies at York University whose interdisciplinary work brings together feminist theory, sexuality studies, science and technology studies, critical sex work studies, and digital labour. Her doctoral research examines how artificial intelligence and erobotic technologies are reshaping intimacy, sexual labour, and emerging sexual economies.
Kathleen’s research combines feminist ethnography and autoethnography with creative practice, including painting, performance, and arts-based knowledge mobilization. Her recent work on AI companions, erobotics, sex work, and posthuman intimacy has been presented internationally and published across academic and creative venues.

Thalia Godbout

Bio:

Thalia Godbout (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and technologist interested in technological narratives and how they shape our social imaginaries and material realities. Currently pursuing an MSc in Digital Media at York University, their research explores questions around innovation, materiality, and temporality, using craft-based approaches to highlight entanglements and tensions between digital technologies and craftwork practices and histories. Informed by feminist technoscience and critical making, her process-oriented practice foregrounds making as a site of inquiry, moving across participatory workshops, interactive installations, and material forms like ceramics, textiles, and zines.

Hrysovalanti F. Maheras

Bio:

Hrysovalanti F. Maheras (she/her) is a Toronto-based computational artist and PhD candidate in Digital Media at York University. Her practice combines generative systems, electronic media, and kinetic sculptural assemblages to explore how affect emerges, circulates, and is shared through light, sound, and movement across multispecies ecologies. Her work has been presented internationally at ICMC, ICLC, ICGA, Emerson Contemporary, New Adventures in Sound Art, NYU Shanghai, Array Space, and Trinity Square Video, among others.

Rowan Munson

Bio:

Rowan O.A. Munson (he/they) is a PhD student at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. His research interests focus on reconnecting technology to people, place, and planet. He is particularly interested in methods that are participatory, that broaden perspectives beyond WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) contexts, and that bridge academic theory and industry practice to create real-world impact.

Previously, Rowan managed social research projects for UK Government agencies and charities, and published and lectured in Health and Social Care. He has advocated for policy changes to address social and environmental injustices and continues to engage in advocacy efforts to drive meaningful change. He holds an MSc in Behavioural and Data Science from the University of Warwick, UK; and a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford, UK.

When not immersed in research, Rowan enjoys exploring art galleries, going on country walks, and enjoying a good novel with a cup of herbal tea.

Omar Shabbar

Bio:

Omar Shabbar is a musician, researcher,  sound artist, and audiophile based out of Toronto. Currently working towards a PhD in Digital Media at York University, Shabbar’s work explores expressive applications for new sound technologies through the creation of new instruments and sonic environments. As an active touring musician with two decades of gigging experience, Shabbar’s lifelong obsession with the guitar and live performance informs much of this creative process. His most recent work aims to look outwards, beyond conventional instruments, and focus on the role of the performance space as a co-creator. Moving past traditional performance spaces like churches or performance halls, Shabbar’s recent work takes an ethnographic approach to examine, analyse, and recreate the many resonances of community spaces. Shabbar’s work demonstrates how the sounds of these often overlooked spaces influence musicians and contribute to the overall performance. 

Kwame Kyei-Boateng
Bio:

Currently studying at York University in the Computational Arts PhD program, Kwame Kyei-Boateng is a digital artist based in Toronto, whose work explores the relationship between the human and the machine, and the space in-between. With an inclination towards non-traditional interfaces and participatory experiences, Kwame approaches his art through a human-centred narrative lens. His work aims to tell stories and shape experiences through interactive play between the virtual and the self, with the ultimate goal of facilitating deeper introspection of oneself and one’s place in society and the greater universe.

Peter Oke

Bio:

Peter Oke is an award-winning filmmaker, creative technologist, and speculative designer whose work moves between social documentary, immersive media, and design research. His practice traces the connections between human psychology, cinematic storytelling, and the systems that shape communities across Africa and its diaspora.

His debut feature documentary, Boys on the Brink, won Best Documentary Feature at the Political Film Festival and a Gold Award at the International Gold Awards New York in 2024. His most recent short documentary, Beyond Tarkwa Bay, was an official selection at the 2026 Pan African Film Festival, won Best Documentary Short at the African Film Festival Atlanta, and has been shortlisted among the top 5 documentaries nominated for the Nigerian Prize for Creative Arts. His first interactive VR documentary, Oko Ayo: A Pilgrimage Through the Future of African Mining, premiered at FIVARS 2026 and has since screened at VRTO, with further international presentations forthcoming. The work emerged from his MDes research at OCAD University, where he introduced the Decolonial Foresight Method, a replicable framework for community-sovereign technological design, now published as a booklet by OCAD University and under peer review at Leonardo (MIT Press). His research background includes peer-reviewed work in affective neuroscience at City University London.

Zhino Yousefi

Bio:

Zhino Yousefi is an Iranian-Canadian artist and engineer. She holds a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto and a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Futures from OCAD University. She is currently a PhD student in Computatonal Arts at York University Her artistic journey began with traditional Iranian paintings, deeply rooted in Iran’s cultural heritage. She transitioned into immersive art installations that merge art with technology. Utilizing electronics, sensors, Virtual Reality, and 3D design, she explores themes of home, diaspora, and existentialism. Her art challenges boundaries, sparking new dialogues and offering unique perspectives on the human experience, while blurring the lines between the physical and digital realms.