Personal Profile
Alex Coulombe
Creative Director – gile Lens: Immersive Design
Linkedin

Architect turned XR-chitect, Alex Coulombe is a designer, developer, and educator who has worked in VR/AR for over 10 years. After earning his B.Arch. from Syracuse University, Alex practiced at such firms as Rafael Viñoly Architects and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, always advocating for the utilization of emerging technologies to communicate design intent. After developing at Fisher Dachs Associates the world’s first virtual reality system for evaluating theatre sightlines, he co-founded the NYC-based studio, Agile Lens. Projects have included The Shed, David Geffen Hall, The Statue of Liberty Museum, Rice University Music and Performing Arts Center, and the dome of the Ed Sullivan Theatre for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In 2019 after over 1.5 years studying live performance in social VR with the group Alive in Plasticland, a scripted theatre piece, “Loveseat” was selected for the Venice Film Festival, Alex designed the virtual set, props, lighting, and even the theatre the performances were viewed in by audience members in Venice and around the world (via VR). Alex also co-created the award-winning Magic Leap ghost speed-dating experience, “Ghosted,” is a Vice President of the AIXR’s Enterprise committee, and teaches Unity at Syracuse University. A rising thought leader in emerging tech, Alex speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter and YouTube: @ibrews.

Company Presentation
Agile Lens: Immersive Design

Agile Lens is a NYC-based XR studio crafting immersive experiences for the built environment and the spectacles within them. Clients include architects around the world as well as Intel, Samsung, and Epic Games.

Personal Profile
Emma Buttin
TV, New Media & VR – Cultural Services of the French Embassy, USA
Linkedin

Emma Buttin is the Officer for New Media and VR at the French Embassy in the U.S. A graduate from Institute of Political Sciences of Grenoble and ESCP Europe Paris in management of cultural activities, Emma Buttin is passionate about projects at the crossroads between culture and technology. As a cultural project leader for 7 years, she worked for ARTER production agency, an innovative public art project for the Greater Paris Transportation Network, La Gaîté Lyrique (digital art center in Paris) and the festival NewImages dedicated to immersive experiences. At the French Embassy, she is in charge of “French Immersion”, a program to support emerging and innovative French creators.

Company Presentation
Cultural Services of the French Embassy

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promote the best of French arts, literature, cinema, digital innovation, language, and higher education across the US. Headquartered in New York City and Washington D.C., with offices in eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services bring artists, authors, intellectuals, and innovators to cities nationwide. They also build partnerships between French and American artists, institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic.