Friche la Belle de Mai, La Tour, 5th Floor

Immerse yourself in virtual reality experiences through new, visually captivating and immersive works. The 5th floor will present the group exhibition Nouveaux Environnements: Approcher l’intouchable, featuring the work of 7 Canadian artists, and Boris Labbé’s latest creation, exposition labyrinthique. These two works are not simply virtual immersions, but invitations to rethink our relationship with the world around us. They remind us of the beauty and fragility of nature, by immersing our senses in these virtual universes.

On Friday 8th November at 16.00, Aurélie Besson and Boris Labbé will present the exhibition during an exclusive artist talk (no registration needed).

Nouveaux environnements

Nature, this raw material of the terrestrial environment, is the self-generating whole comprised of all the earth’s materials—at least for the time being so long as the environmental parameters have not been completely disrupted by the climate change currently underway. It is also a subject-object that has been—through every era and in every current—widely depicted, shown, quoted, transformed, remixed through artistic representation. The sublime subject par excellence, the natural event is one that we have the least influence over. If nature is a facet of our reality that often escapes us—and by the same token fascinates and obsesses us—its interpretation through the workings of the digital brings about an almost ontological reversal: its very materiality is put into question, it becomes malleable and immaterial all at once.

3D animation, modeling and photogrammetry are the vectors of a transition to the digital where nature becomes the intangible and untouchable material of worlds in which human destruction no longer exists. On the contrary, the human gesture—which here becomes an artistic one —is rather one that constructs, makes and arranges, composes and develops. The change takes place here only at the price of a perceptive variation: nothing is ever lost, we only see/show differently.

New Surroundings: Approaching the Untouchable brings together works that, each in their own way, question the materiality of the world through an exploration of digital material. With Virtual Reality as their common denominator, these universes belong to an order where the most distant seems to also be the most accessible, while the impalpable offers the appearance of being at hand. This world, revealed by the digital—modified, reorganized, and augmented—is, however, less and less foreign to our own, which changes, deteriorates and gradually disappears. Far from being immutable, the nature we move about in —its sky, its lands and its seas—is perhaps at the dawn of its own ontological reversal and, in any case, certainly at the threshold of an irreversible turnaround. – Nathalie Bachand

Artists featured: Baron Lanteigne (QC-CA) · Caroline Gagné (QC-CA) · François Quévillon (QC-CA) · Laurent Lévesque & Olivier Henley (QC-CA) · Olivia McGilchrist (QC-CA) · Sabrina Ratté (QC-CA)

Ito Meikyu

Ito Meikyu is a virtual reality experience that develops around references from Japanese art history and literature (The Fukinuki Yatai, The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book) and unfolds as a large sensory fresco with strong emotional potential. A heterogeneous set of drawn, animated and sound scenes are taken from digital material; they recreate a kind of subjective world (inner and outer) in the form of a labyrinth composed of fractal architectures, inhabited by plants, objects, animals, men, women, motifs and calligraphy. The virtual wandering space allows us to access different scenes based on the randomness of our choices: a kind of hide-and-seek game with the universe at the centre of which we are the omniscient spectator.

Artist featured: Boris Labbé (FR)

This exhibition is organised with the support of Molior, CALQ, MCCQ, Realities in Transition and CHRONIQUES Plateforme.

10.30 – 11.30, Friche la Belle de Mai, Cartonnerie

The phenomenon of generative AI and its wider accessibility to a huge number of creative professions could mark a tipping point: in the near future will all creation be inseparable from AI-driven tools? And if AI really has “shifted the beat”, what are the new rules of the game? In other words: in what concrete ways does AI fit into the creative process? How does it support the work of artistic directors and artists? And, as a ripple effect, what skills are needed to handle and control these AIs? Several experts discuss these ongoing changes.

Speakers: Carlos Martorell (SP) · Tomislav Pokrajčić (HR) · Hadrien Gautrot (FR) · Anne Le Gall (FR) · Hugo Scurto (FR)

Moderation: Adrien Cornelissen (FR)

This roundtable is organised in the framework of the Marché des Imaginaires Numériques (MIN).

Registration link: https://billetterie.chroniques-biennale.org/event/439269-marche-des-imaginaires-numeriques

16.00 – 17.30, Friche la Belle de Mai, Salle Seita

This pitch session highlights the work of five women who are pushing the boundaries of XR technology with a focus on inclusivity, collaboration, and feminist expression. Their projects showcase how immersive media can challenge norms, amplify diverse voices, and foster new forms of artistic collaboration. Expect a dynamic exchange of ideas, driven by a powerful feminist energy, that highlights the transformative potential of XR.

Speakers: Ines Borovac (HR) · Stella Jacob (FR) · Letta Shtohryn (UKR) · Loïs Soleil (FR/KS) · Sieta van Horck (NL)

Moderation: Ilaria Bondavalli (IT)

This pitch session is organised in the framework of the Marché des Imaginaires Numériques (MIN).

Registration link: https://billetterie.chroniques-biennale.org/event/439269-marche-des-imaginaires-numeriques

11.00 – 12h30, Friche la Belle de Mai, La Tour, 5th Floor

VR, as an artistic medium, represents a wonderful asset, permitting creative paths that couldn’t exist before. As this medium develops and the public interest rises, we get to experience more and more VR artworks. The only word that seems to matter when describing a VR artwork is “immersivity”, but what really is the place, or even the use of VR regarding the immersivity of an artwork? It is essential to question this notion; what it really means and why, in which ways we want to achieve it? Also, this raises questions about the effects this medium has on one’s creativity. Do we fear it’s something that can drive us in a single path, such as entertainment purposes, taking us away from a deeper artistic exploration of this tool?

Speakers: Annika Boll (GE) · Silvana Callegari (CO) · Emanuela Righi (IT) · Wouter S. Schuur (NL) · Masha Zolotova (AT)

Moderation: Montaine Jean (FR) · Rayhan Ladjouze (FR)

Registration link (free ticket): https://billetterie.chroniques-biennale.org/event/440620-vr-as-a-medium-in-arts-friche-la-belle-de-mai

14.30 – 16.00, Friche la Belle de Mai, Salle des Quais

How we experience digital content is changing rapidly with the emergence of extended reality or XR. Overarching virtual, augmented and mixed reality, XR creates a blended reality in which data seamlessly mingles with the physical environment. The impact of this new integrated world is becoming evident across society in domains such as education, health care, industry and culture. Inevitably, XR’s opportunities also introduce critical issues relating to sustainability, ethics, data privacy, and unequal access to technology, to name a few examples. With input from experts and the participants of the Critical XR Manifesto workshops, the Realities in Transitions white paper aims to explore the current state of XR, outline the key challenges and opportunities, and provide insights into their future trajectory.

Speaker: Boris Debackere (NL)

This keynote is organised in the framework of the Marché des Imaginaires Numériques (MIN).

Registration link: https://billetterie.chroniques-biennale.org/event/439269-marche-des-imaginaires-numeriques