What is Toasterlab?

Toasterlab creates place-based extended reality experiences that promote deeper engagement with history, community, and imagination. Toasterlab combines expertise in storytelling, theatrical and media production, and the development of new technology to produce both original work and partnerships. Our work ranges from site-specific live performance to bespoke mobile applications and VR films, and often combines a variety of approaches to collapse time and space for the delivery of impactful narratives. From the largest festivals to community youth workshops, we build accessible ways to understand places in whole new ways.

Toasterlab is Ian Garrett, Justine Garrett, and Andrew Sempere. Its Mixed Reality Performance Atelier is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Team

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Ian Garrett

Production / Design

Interactive projects featured in Venice Biennale, World Stage Design Taipei, Maria Island (Tasmania), Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Maker Faire. Regular speaker on technological ghosts: using immersive content and geolocation to bridge the uncanny valley and enhance a mixed reality experience. Tenured professor of stage design. Executive director of multiple arts organizations.

ianpgarrett.com

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Andrew Sempere

Digital Scenography

Previous Design Researcher at IBM responsible for UX on design prototypes and provided the voice of “design thinking” for research strategy. Recently Senior User Experience Designer Food52, a NY-based media and e-commerce company. Previous locative interactive design for Hotel City / CinemaMutation (Interactive film installation / game engine) and Summer of Darkness locative history application.

andrewsempere.org

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Justine Garrett

Story / Performance

Emmy-Award winning producer, writer, and performer. Graduate of Second City Conservatory, UCLA and CalArts. Has written extensively across a variety of media, including for Lily Tomlin and articles for the Los Angeles TimesThe Hairpin, and others. Developed degree programs in art and technology, video game design, new media, and entrepreneurship for at CalArts and York University.

justinegarrett.com

The Team in AltSpaceVR for PXR2020