Join us for a community reception to celebrate the beginning of our 20th anniversary!
A new season begins at Le Labo, and with it, a historic milestone: the artist-run centre marks its 20th anniversary! For this celebration, the programming draws from the organization’s archives and the memory of its community—living, malleable materials. In dialogue with contemporary creation, it invites the public to rediscover the impulses that have forged the artist-run centre’s unique identity.
🗓️ Thursday, September 24 at 6:00 PM (by invitation only)
📍 The rooftop of 401 Richmond (or in our studio in case of rain)
To inaugurate this 2026–2027 season, the opening reception transforms into a temporal portal with the immersive work Biidaaban: First Light (2018), a collaboration between Lisa Jackson, Mathew Borrett, Jam3, and the National Film Board of Canada. This virtual reality experience immerses us in a future where downtown Toronto is reclaimed by nature and by the wendat, anishinaabemowin, and kanienʼkehá languages that are deeply rooted there. For the filmmaker, the word Biidaaban carries in its three syllables the collision of past and future, through which the present moment is born. Acclaimed on multiple occasions, notably by imagineNATIVE and at the Canadian Screen Awards, this film highlights how traditional languages hold the essential keys to inhabiting, together, a reconciled metropolis.
This 2026–2027 season is particularly special, as we celebrate our twentieth anniversary under the curatorship of our Franco-Ontarian artist-in-residence Laura Demers! We have also reimagined how your membership will function for the coming season. We will announce new partnerships in the presence of some of them. All of this around a potluck-style reception to spend time together and exchange ideas.
🧺Bring your favorite snack and beverage to share! Non-alcoholic drinks will also be available for purchase.
