Upcoming Exhibition and Artist Talk: “Wandering Threads,” featuring Ito Meikyu by Boris Labbé at re.riddle
Filmmaker and illustrator Boris Labbé presents Ito Meikyū, his first VR artwork, inspired by Japanese art and literature at San Francisco’s re.riddle gallery, as part of the exhibition Wandering Threads. Winner of the Grand Prix at Venice Immersive 2024, this fractal labyrinth offers an ever-evolving, personal experience.
Ito Meikyū is a virtual reality experience that draws its inspiration from Japanese art and literature (Fukinuki Yatai, The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book). This work unfolds as a vast sensory fresco with strong emotional resonance. A heterogeneous collection of drawn, animated, and sound-based scenes, created from digital materials, recreates a subjective world in the form of a labyrinth composed of fractal architectures. This labyrinth is inhabited by plants, objects, animals, men, women, patterns, and calligraphy.
The virtual space offers the viewer the opportunity to explore various scenes based on the randomness of their choices, creating a kind of hide-and-seek game with the universe. At the heart of this immersive exploration, the visitor becomes an omniscient spectator, both observer and participant.
This immersive creation, which combines drawn, animated, and sound-based scenes, won the Grand Prize at Venice Immersive 2024.
Accompanying the exhibition will be an artist talk: In Conversation: Boris Labbé x Wade Wallerstein, co-presented with Villa Albertine, on Wednesday, April 2nd from 5-7pm at1275 Minnesota St, SF.
About the Artist
Born in 1987 in Lannemezan, France, Boris Labbé is an animation filmmaker and visual artist working between France and Spain. His work, enriched by his activity as a draftsman, is characterized by a unique hybridization, blending digital moving image techniques with those specific to animated films.
Boris Labbé pushes the boundaries of classical cinema by transcending its spatiotemporal constraints. Rooted in the concept of expanded cinema, his creations are not limited to traditional theater screenings but extend to other forms, including installations. Collaborating with Sacrebleu Productions since 2013, his work has been selected and awarded at some of the most prestigious festivals, including Critic’s Week, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and Animafest Zagreb.