Ito Meikyū
Affiche_Ito.jpg | Credits: © SACREBLEU PRODUCTIONS, LES FILMS FAUVES, PARANGON
Ito-Meikyu_4.jpg | Credits: © SACREBLEU PRODUCTIONS, LES FILMS FAUVES, PARANGON
Ito-Meikyu_5.jpg | Credits: © SACREBLEU PRODUCTIONS, LES FILMS FAUVES, PARANGON
Ito-Meikyu_6.jpg | Credits: © SACREBLEU PRODUCTIONS, LES FILMS FAUVES, PARANGON
Ito-Meikyu_7.jpg | Credits: © SACREBLEU PRODUCTIONS, LES FILMS FAUVES, PARANGON
Ito-Meikyu_9.jpg | Credits: © SACREBLEU PRODUCTIONS, LES FILMS FAUVES, PARANGON
Interior and exterior, transparency and opacity, exhibitionism and voyeurism, feminine and masculine; all these notions oppose or unite in the infinite cycle of a labyrinth with no exit. Life here is like a loom whose living weft is woven from a myriad of branching threads and paths.
This virtual reality installation is inspired by key works of classical art and Japanese literature (such as The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu and The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon), but also by various contacts and events in the artist's life and his travels in Japan.
Boris Labbé is also attached to the typical motif of traditional Japanese painting, the Fukinuki Yatai technique (translated as "roof removed") which represents the interior of a building, seen from above, without a ceiling. Through this composition, he explores the multiplicity of points of view, the interconnected narrative relationship, the almost encyclopedic panoramic composition, and the issues of composition of geometries, motifs, and characters. Boris Labbé is looking for several ways to express the material of the drawing: to make it “overflow, crack, crackle, proliferate, live”. Drawing has always been central to his life and has been nourished by several encounters and projects: from classical drawing to 3D animation, and from virtual reality to performance and video installation.
Ito Meikyū invites the viewer to immerse themselves in a large animated fresco. It presents a heterogeneous collection of drawn, animated and sound scenes, which are taken from the digital material. In a way, it recreates a subjective world (inner and outer world) in the form of a labyrinth composed of fractal architectures, inhabited by plants, objects, animals, men, women, patterns, and calligraphy. The spectator is invited to wander through this virtual space in a free way, letting themselves be guided by the chance of their discoveries.
Interior and exterior, transparency and opacity, exhibitionism and voyeurism, feminine and masculine; all these notions oppose or unite in the infinite cycle of a labyrinth with no exit. Life here is like a loom whose living weft is woven from a myriad of branching threads and paths.
This virtual reality installation is inspired by key works of classical art and Japanese literature (such as The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu and The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon), but also by various contacts and events in the artist's life and his travels in Japan.
Boris Labbé is also attached to the typical motif of traditional Japanese painting, the Fukinuki Yatai technique (translated as "roof removed") which represents the interior of a building, seen from above, without a ceiling. Through this composition, he explores the multiplicity of points of view, the interconnected narrative relationship, the almost encyclopedic panoramic composition, and the issues of composition of geometries, motifs, and characters. Boris Labbé is looking for several ways to express the material of the drawing: to make it “overflow, crack, crackle, proliferate, live”. Drawing has always been central to his life and has been nourished by several encounters and projects: from classical drawing to 3D animation, and from virtual reality to performance and video installation.
Ito Meikyū invites the viewer to immerse themselves in a large animated fresco. It presents a heterogeneous collection of drawn, animated and sound scenes, which are taken from the digital material. In a way, it recreates a subjective world (inner and outer world) in the form of a labyrinth composed of fractal architectures, inhabited by plants, objects, animals, men, women, patterns, and calligraphy. The spectator is invited to wander through this virtual space in a free way, letting themselves be guided by the chance of their discoveries.
Director: Boris Labbé
Music: Daniele Ghisi
Production: Sacrebleu Productions, Les Films Fauves, Parangon
Distribution & Exploitation: Unframed Collection
Animation 2D: Boris Labbé, Capucine Latrasse, Agathe Sollier
Animation calligraphies: Ryo Orikasa
Animation trainees: Lucia Augé, Coralie Belaygue, Virginia Berché, Liam Hines, Noémie Horta, Céleste Le Du, Alcide Morand, Elsa Moulin, Edouard Trefert, Manon Sindt Baret
3D modeling: Boris Labbé, Beatriz Ruthes dos Santos, Collin Gallego
3D animation: Manu Batot
Developer: Germain Linder, Alex Nogueira
Developer prototype: Elie Buglione, Mattéo Delorme
VR consulting: Charles Ayats
Studio Fireflies: Jacopo Armani
With support from: Film Fund Luxembourg, CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, La Région Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée, La Région Grand Est, Préfet de la région Pays de la Loire, Chroniques - Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques, Drawing Lab, Orange
Boris Labbé (1987, FR) is an artist and animation film director working in the southwest of France. Based on his drawing activity, Boris Labbé's work is characterized by hybridization, combining the use of digital moving image techniques with those specific to animated film. His videos tend to break out of the spatio-temporal framework imposed by classical cinema; governed by the notion of expanded cinema, his works are not only destined for projection in the movie theater, but also tend towards other forms, notably installations. He collaborates with Sacrebleu Productions since 2013. His work has been selected and awarded in most prestigious festival such as Critic's Week, Annecy Animation Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, Venice Festival.
Boris Labbé (1987, FR) is an artist and animation film director working in the southwest of France. Based on his drawing activity, Boris Labbé's work is characterized by hybridization, combining the use of digital moving image techniques with those specific to animated film. His videos tend to break out of the spatio-temporal framework imposed by classical cinema; governed by the notion of expanded cinema, his works are not only destined for projection in the movie theater, but also tend towards other forms, notably installations. He collaborates with Sacrebleu Productions since 2013. His work has been selected and awarded in most prestigious festival such as Critic's Week, Annecy Animation Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, Venice Festival.
Boris Labbé’s Ito Meikyū invites the viewer to step through the looking-glass of his celebrated hand-drawn universe and wander inside it. For his first venture into virtual reality, the director translates his filigree line work into a vast, multi-layered labyrinth whose imagery is woven, both literally and conceptually, like embroidery. Fragmentary scenes drawn from Japanese literature and art history unfurl as interlaced threads: fractal architectures, calligraphed glyphs, bodies at work on gigantic looms, enigmatic machines that spin infinity into pattern.
The piece is as experimental as it is enchanting. A gaze-controlled navigation system replaces the usual VR joystick: where you look becomes where you go, turning exploration into a seamless, almost meditative drift. Eye-tracking, parallax, and subtle depth cues are deployed not as gimmicks but as dramaturgy; every technical choice reinforces the sensation of being woven into the fabric of the poem itself.
Visually opulent, Ito Meikyū rewards prolonged and repeated visits. Allegory, irony, and quiet humor surface in fresh combinations each time, making the voyage feel both personal and unending. By threading exquisite 2-D craft through the spatial loom of VR, Labbé expands the language of animation and demonstrates how immersive media can be both formally daring and emotionally contemplative.
Boris Labbé’s Ito Meikyū invites the viewer to step through the looking-glass of his celebrated hand-drawn universe and wander inside it. For his first venture into virtual reality, the director translates his filigree line work into a vast, multi-layered labyrinth whose imagery is woven, both literally and conceptually, like embroidery. Fragmentary scenes drawn from Japanese literature and art history unfurl as interlaced threads: fractal architectures, calligraphed glyphs, bodies at work on gigantic looms, enigmatic machines that spin infinity into pattern.
The piece is as experimental as it is enchanting. A gaze-controlled navigation system replaces the usual VR joystick: where you look becomes where you go, turning exploration into a seamless, almost meditative drift. Eye-tracking, parallax, and subtle depth cues are deployed not as gimmicks but as dramaturgy; every technical choice reinforces the sensation of being woven into the fabric of the poem itself.
Visually opulent, Ito Meikyū rewards prolonged and repeated visits. Allegory, irony, and quiet humor surface in fresh combinations each time, making the voyage feel both personal and unending. By threading exquisite 2-D craft through the spatial loom of VR, Labbé expands the language of animation and demonstrates how immersive media can be both formally daring and emotionally contemplative.