As part of its cooperation in the creative industries, the cultural service of the French Embassy in Canada is welcoming a French delegation in Toronto on the theme of immersive experiences in cultural spaces and public sites, from September 28 to 30, 2022.
It is organized on the occasion of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, in partnership with the City of Toronto and Correspondances Digitales (Paris). The delegation includes major museums and cultural institutions such as the Musée d’Orsay, the National Museum of Natural History and the Château de Versailles, which are offering immersive or virtual reality experiences to attract new audiences. It also includes studios and producers who develop these experiences in France and abroad. A tailored program of meetings and visits over three days will allow the French delegation to explore the Toronto ecosystem and develop relationships with its stakeholders for future collaborations.
The delegates who will be present are Agnès Abastado (Musée d’Orsay), Roei Amit (Grand Palais immersif), Stéphanie Targui (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle), Philippe Riviere (Art Explora), Scarlett Greco (Paris Musées), Agathe Renault (Château de Versailles), Pierre Zandrowicz (Astrea Immersive), Avi Amar (Floreal), Annabelle Mauger (lilililillil), and Cédric Niedzielski (AV Extended).
They will visit the following places:
– The Royal Ontario Museum, the 5th largest natural history museum in North America.
– The Aga Khan Museum, a museum of Islamic arts and culture, opened in 2014
– The Art Gallery of Ontario, the province of Ontario’s fine arts museum
– Light House Immersive, a company that operates multiplexes for immersive experiences in some 15 North American cities.
– Paquin Entertainment, an entertainment company whose new branch produces numerous immersive exhibitions (Beyond Van Gogh, Beyond Monet, Marvel S.T.A.T.I.O)
– Secret Location, a virtual reality creation studio created in 2008 and acquired in 2016 by the Entertainment One group. Secret Location is the first company in the world to receive a Primetime Emmy Award for a VR project.
They will also meet with the team of the Toronto Nuit Blanche, which will take place on the night of October 1.
This visit of the French delegation in Toronto echoes an event taking place in its continuity in Vancouver: from October 1st to 3rd takes place “V-Unframed, your journey between Art and Virtual Reality” at the Alliance Française de Vancouver. It is a digital art exhibition that presents the work of local and international artists. This 2022 edition will question the impact of societies on our planet, and how humanity should learn from these challenges to reconnect with Nature.
This event will allow all visitors to discover a virtual reality experience by testing a VR headset in Espace-V, the Virtual Reality platform of the Alliance Française de Vancouver, the first and only VR platform within the French network in the world.
The exhibition is open to the public from 11am to 5pm on October 1st, and from 11am to 6pm on October 2nd. It is reserved for school groups on October 3rd. It takes place in person at the Center for Digital Media, 577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver BC, but also online, via Oculus Applab.
The exhibition is free and open to all, but requires registration on the Alliance Française de Vancouver website, where you will also find more information:
We look forward to seeing you there!
