Neijuan
Neijuan, a Chinese slang term meaning “involution”, describes a retreat into oneself, a symptom of a society growing ever faster and more competitive, where youth oscillates between adulthood and stagnation. Through a documentary and collaborative approach, Lea Sblandano follows people she met online, in forums, video games, or chat rooms. These virtual spaces become arenas of transformation where alternative identities emerge beyond physical norms. In Le Couloir, she introduces this shifting world through photographs that blend portraits and urban landscapes, alternating fragments of reality and staged scenes. Both intimate and confined, the space acts as a threshold between two realms, opening windows onto the outside while initiating immersion into the fascinating universe of Neijuan.
NEIJUAN
2024
Prix IMAGES VEVEY × ECAL 2024
Suisse (2000)
A co-production of Images Vevey and ECALA co-production of Images Vevey and ECAL
Neijuan
Le Salon presents the book Neijuan, created by Lea Sblandano as part of her graduation at ECAL. This dummy, awarded the 2024 IMAGES VEVEY × ECAL Prize, offers a sensitive entry into her universe. It brings together key images of her research: portraits, avatars, urban landscapes, and interiors. Carefully staged, these photographs blur the boundary between real and virtual. Some figures appear human, others from video games or digital worlds, set against Asian megacities where light and architecture intensify strangeness. As a young woman, Lea also confronts troubling realities of sexualization and fetishisation in these spaces of fantasy. A silent, life-sized avatar appears in the room, an ambiguous figure between mental image and digital extension. Le Salon evokes the bedroom as both an intimate refuge and a stage for self-projection.
NEIJUAN
2024
Prix IMAGES VEVEY × ECAL 2024
Suisse (2000)
A co-production of Images Vevey and ECAL
Neijuan
In Le Cinéma, Lea Sblandano unfolds the third part of her immersive installation, conceived as a mental space charged with images. Nine screens on a metal-structure display continuous excerpts from Neijuan: videos, webcam views, avatars, and moments of intimacy intertwine into a dense, shifting visual landscape. Among them appears Kei, a real person and virtual flatmate in Japan, almost constantly connected to a chatroom since the pandemic. He is shown as Lea first encountered him: through a separate screen, suspended between wakefulness and permanent connection. The interface becomes a liberating link, while deepening the distance from the tangible world. Le Cinéma brings together the key themes of the artist’s practice: connected solitude, fragmented presence, and multiple identities. This live connection reminds us that Neijuan remains in perpetual motion, anchored in an always-online world.
NEIJUAN
2024
Prize IMAGES VEVEY × ECAL 2024
Suisse (2000)
A co-production of Images Vevey and ECAL
