At the crossroads of animation and digital, Boris Labbé is a hybrid artist who explores many formats and genres. Through drawing, he puts his artistic practice at the service of cinema, scenographic projects and now XR with the support of Sacrebleu Productions, a production company specializing in animated films (and successfully so!). His curiosity for new formats is a continuation of his work with Ito Meikyū, awarded the Venice Immersive Grand Prize 2024.
Ito Meikyū was presented in Work-In-Progress at this year’s Annecy Festival 2024.
Be convinced by VR creation
Boris Labbé – Virtual reality didn’t immediately impose itself on me. The headset device isn’t that obvious when you come from cinema and animation, I wasn’t equipped either, the definition wasn’t extraordinary at first… It clicked in 2019, after a period of discovery of all immersive formats. In particular, I had the opportunity to be a juror at the Vienna Shorts festival in 2018 to see 360 films. I’ve always had a curiosity in all audiovisual formats, and wanting to “put my animation skills back into play” with each project. And then my producer, Ron Dyens, was also very interested in trying something in virtual reality. Once we found the right project, we set off together.
B. L. – As I’ve developed Ito Meikyū (ex-Mono No Aware, ed.), I’ve gained a better understanding of the medium and the artists who have used it. You can see artists and creators from all artistic practices, and that’s fascinating. There’s a kind of artistic openness at the crossroads of cinema, video games, digital art and contemporary art in particular. We don’t see many video game people becoming film directors, for example. At the moment, VR remains a medium for experimentation, which interests me because of the idea of being able to try things out, often in an artistic and technical unknown. You can create your own path as a VR artist. That’s my case, but I also do it in the film industry or on any other projects, where I often work with dedicated tools.
B. L. – We’re also in a rather good period for virtual reality, with real support from public authorities – the CNC and other institutions – and festivals. All interests are converging to motivate producers, and artists, to take an interest.
Ito Meikyū, unwind the thread of the labyrinth…
B. L.- Ito Meikyū is a Japanese notion that corresponds to the idea conveyed by the project, in an approach that is ultimately very experimental. In discussions with artist Ryo Orikasa, who collaborated on some of the project’s calligraphy and drawings, we came up with the formula ITO = thread, and MEIKYU = labyrinth. The project had several titles as it developed, corresponding to certain animation or drawing ideas (FUKINUKI YATAI, a representation of the interior of buildings from a high vantage point, omitting the roof and ceiling – FUKINUKI YATAI, a representation of the interior of buildings from a high vantage point, omitting the roof and ceiling – lien).
B. L. – The project incorporates representations from China and Japan, which I’ve also used in my film projects. Or production techniques that are integrated into the graphic ideas: for example, the principle of traveling could be a cinematographic counterpart to Japanese or Chinese painted scrolls, all in horizontality. The points of view adopted lean towards voyeurism, particularly in open settings that reveal the intimacy of the surroundings. By its very nature, VR is voyeuristic, and I’ve played on this in the path proposed to the viewer.
B. L. – There are two literary works that have also strongly inspired me. Murasaki Shikibu’s “Le Dit du Genji” (The Tale of Genji), supposedly humanity’s first river novel, written around the year 1000. It’s a poetic work that’s difficult to adapt, but I was able to draw inspiration from it and incorporate certain pieces. Without being a narrator, there is an iconography and ideas that inspired me to establish Ito Meikyū‘s graphic bible. And Sei Shōnagon’s “Notes de Chevets”, which can be read in any order. From this starting point, I wanted to create a non-narrative experimental experience (no voice, no explanatory text…), but VR still requires a form of continuity, in its unfolding. I’ve tried to offer several different paths; it’s impossible to do the whole Ito Meikyū experience in one go. And not every viewer will see the same thing.
Adapting drawing and animation techniques to VR
B. L. – When I came to the VR medium, I didn’t change my way of drawing or conceiving animation. I work on the notion of loops on all my projects, including the recent La Chute and Rhizome. I work in ink and watercolor, with a step to scan them and send everything to software (Photoshop, After Effect…). My approach to 2D elements was identical. However, I had to think about the idea of dimension, to give volume to my drawings. I had to break the “too full” effect of the drawings in their texture, particularly on architecture or vegetation, and think about the superposition of elements.
B. L. – In real time, we had to think about how to read the work with all these elements. Unity isn’t designed to run all this. So we had to do a lot of prototyping to find the right way of doing things.
B. L. – We worked on the dynamics of the user in Ito Meikyū, maintaining the installation’s ability to move through the eyes – always in keeping with the idea of voyeurism. The user remains upright, physically present in the experience, in a form of treasure hunt to visit all the scenes and elements of the experience. This may require some learning on the part of the uninitiated audience. But it’s also a good reason to do it again!
Next: an exhibition at the Drawing Lab Paris gallery
B. L. – Ito Meikyū will have its world premiere at Venice Immersive 2024, but we’re also opening an exhibition with the VR project a few weeks later in Paris at the Drawing Lab gallery. It’s an exhibition that brings together a range of works revolving around the Ito Meikyū project, from VR to animation, installation to sculpture. Silkscreen prints, drawings, a loom sculpture, screens, video art and the VR work that is its centerpiece. It’s a global project that makes sense with all these proposals. I’ve been lucky enough to see animation come into the contemporary art world, and it’s no longer impossible to organize this mix of genres.
B. L. – VR implies a direct dialogue with the viewer, but the idea is not to convince all viewers immediately. Our aim with Sacrebleu is to push artistic standards to the limit, not to simplify the spectator’s approach. Of course, there will be texts in the exhibition to help you understand our approach, but Ito Meikyū is essentially a sensory and intuitive experience. What’s more, you can enjoy the VR work with all the creations on display.