Ito Meikyū, Boris Labbé's virtual reality exhibition at Drawing Lab in Paris - our photos

VR takes over Drawing Lab! The cultural space is hosting an immersive virtual reality exhibition by artist Boris Labbé, from October 11, 2024 to January 5, 2025. Entitled Ito Meikyū, this installation invites visitors to explore a universe where shapes and drawings proliferate and transform, all set in a Japanese universe where syllables and kanji come alive in a spellbinding dance.

The central work in this exhibition, Ito Meikyū, is a digital labyrinth inspired by Japanese culture, notably classic works such as Le Dit du Genji and Les Notes de Chevet. Here, Boris Labbé blends fractal patterns, calligraphy and scenes of life to create a complex architecture, where the observer can lose himself as he discovers. This virtual installation invites the viewer to wander freely, in the manner of the artist's beloved fukinuki yatai technique, which reveals the interiors of buildings without ceilings, a process typical of traditional Japanese painting.

• To be read
• Free exhibitions in Paris in October 2024: good ideas for art lovers
• Digital art exhibitions to discover in Paris and the Ile-de-France region
• Tips for the week of November 18 to 24, 2024 in Paris: free or inexpensive outings

Our discovery of the VR exhibition Ito Meikyū at Drawing Lab :

We discovered this VR experience on the occasion of a vernissage. Lasting 20 minutes, it invites you to "wander" freely within this "installation/labyrinth". How does it work? After reserving a time slot (you can also try it out without booking, provided you're not afraid of queuing), you put on a VR headset and let yourself be guided. The idea? Follow the white circles and wander from space to space. The experience ends on its own after 20 minutes, with credits.

As for theVR installation, you plunge into the meanders of a labyrinth, blending Japanese house, loom, tree branches and the Ice Palace typical of funfairs. A surprising mix of genres, set against a black background, inviting meditation and reflection. We enjoy observing the various animations, like a looping cycle in which we get stuck: children playing instruments, a couple kissing... So many beautifully drawn and animated scenes.

A curious experience for all contemporary art lovers.

Theexhibition is also a journey through the diversity of forms and points of view, between"inside and outside, transparency and opacity, exhibitionism and voyeurism", elements that intersect in an infinite cycle. This almost invisible thread links all of Boris Labbé's works, offering a reflection on movement, repetition and the deconstruction of forms in an unprecedented digital space.