Gustavo Alfonso Rincon (M.Arch., MFA, B.Sc., BA) is a first generation U.S. citizen, born in New York City; both of his parents are Colombian immigrants who raised Rincon to be fluent in Spanish and cross-culturally responsive. Rincon is educated as an architect, visual artist and currently is a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Program in Media Arts and Technology (MAT) at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He holds Masters Degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as well as a Masters in Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). His unique combination of architectural and artistic training allows him to bridge connections across conceptual art/design media, sciences and technology. Gustavo worked as an Architectural Designer for over ten years, serving clients in the U.S., Europe, United Arab Emirates and China. Simultaneously, he worked as an Industrial & Interactive Designer, creating events & theatrical set designs in which he combined media art, computational design, and engineering into new multisensoral manufactured environments. Rincon’s involvement in the arts for over 20 years includes curating, educating, and exhibiting works nationally. As an Adjunct Professor at Otis College of Art and Design, Gustavo taught in the Interactive Product Design and Liberal Arts & Sciences Departments. Rincon served as Director of the Foundation for Art Resources (F.A.R.) in Los Angeles, fundraising and organizing interactive art and music events, lectures and panel discussions at locations such as the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery & Theatre, Barnsdall Art Park, MAK Center for Art and Architecture and Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles.

Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Visual and Spatial Arts and works with the AlloSphere Group as a researcher with JoAnn Kuchera-Morin at the California NanoSystems Institute in the UCSB. During his time in California, Rincon has worked for the U. C. Digital Arts Research Network, Cal Arts’ Art and Music Departments, U. C. Institute for Research in the Arts, UCLA Architecture & Urban Design Department, UCLA Design and Media Arts Department, UCSB Media Arts and Technology Program, and the UCSB Technology Management Program. He continues to research the boundaries of Conceptual Media Arts, Emergent Algorithmic Design, and Immersive Technologies with his directed academic research in the Trans Lab (Liquid and Virtual Architectures) in the MAT Program.