The Victoria Miro Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs by Isaac Julien which were made in collaboration with Hare and Hound Press during Julien’s recent residency at ArtPace in Texas. His film installation, The Long Road to Mazatlan - another collaboration with acclaimed dancer and choreographer Javier de Frutos, was commissioned by ArtPace and Grand Arts Kansas City and the photographs - After Mazatlan, quote directly from the same visual sources. Both draw on the mythologies of the frontier culture of the American West and in particular, the loaded iconographies of the Cowboy, here imbued with a homoerotic quality redolent of Andy Warhol’s Lonesome Cowboys, while also referencing the work of Martin Scorcese and David Hockney and continuing, as with Julien’s earlier film work, to subvert preconceptions of race and sexuality.
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News story
Posted
December 15 2022
Isaac Julien features in Art Review’s Power 100
Julien’s ambitious film-installations and videos, which blend archive images with reenactments to offer constellationlike portraits of historic Black figures, have become cult references among artists seeking to engage with Black histories and the legacies of cultural domination, migration and the diasporic experience. Art Review -
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Exhibition
Posted
December 15 2022
Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement at Philadelphia Museum of Art
On view from 28 January–29 May 2023, Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement, 2019, explores the life, work, and legacy of the Italian-Brazilian modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914–1992). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania -
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Exhibition
Posted
December 10 2022
Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
On view 10 December 2022–9 July 2023, Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass is an immersive and poetic meditation on the great 19th-century abolitionist. The poignant 10-screen film installation collapses time and space to bridge persistent historical and contemporary challenges of the day. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 4 2022
A major exhibition by Isaac Julien opens at Tate Britain in April 2023
This ambitious solo exhibition (26 April–20 August 2023) reveals the scope of Julien’s pioneering work in film and installation from the early 1980s through to the present day. Tate Britain -
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Exhibition
Posted
September 17 2022
Isaac Julien: Kaiserring der Stadt Goslar 2022 at Mönchehaus-Museum für moderne Kunst
The exhibition (8 October 2022–29 January 2023) features two important cinematic works: Looking for Langston, 1989, and Lessons of the Hour, 2019. Mönchehaus-Museum für moderne Kunst, Germany -
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Feature
Posted
July 29 2022
Vogue features Isaac Julien’s Once Again... (Statues Never Die) at the Barnes Foundation
At the Barnes Foundation, Isaac Julien Stages a Soaring Ode to Black Creativity Robert Sullivan, Vogue -
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Exhibition
Posted
June 14 2022
Isaac Julien: Once Again... (Statues Never Die) at the Barnes Foundation
In celebration of the Barnes centennial, the museum has commissioned Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die), an immersive five-screen installation by artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien, on view from 19 June 2022. The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia -
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Exhibition
Posted
May 28 2022
Isaac Julien: Looking for Langston at Inhotim, Brazil
Julien’s seminal 1989 work is on view (from 28 May 2022) at Inhotim in Brumadinho, Brazil. Blending poetry and images, Julien draws on a lyrical exploration of the private world of Langston Hughes and the fellow Black artists and writers who shaped the Harlem Renaissance. Brumadinho, Brazil -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 4 2022
Works by Isaac Julien go on view at Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide
On view 4 March–27 May 2022, the Australian premiere of A Marvellous Entanglement, 2019, which pays tribute to the signficant Brazilian modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi, and Ten Thousand Waves, 2010, a poetically evocative weaving together of stories drawn from China's ancient past and the present. Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide -
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Exhibition
Posted
November 7 2021
Works by Isaac Julien feature in the LACMA exhibition Black American Portraits
Spanning over two centuries from c.1800 to the present day, this selection (on view 7 November 2021–17 April 2022) of approximately 150 works draws primarily from LACMA's permanent collection and highlights emancipation and early studio photography. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 30 2021
Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement opens at The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
The first US museum presentation of Lina Bo Bardi - A Marvellous Entanglement, Isaac Julien’s nine-screen film installation, which is tribute to the visionary Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi. On view 30 October 2021–27 February 2022. The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, North Carolina -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 29 2021
The UK and European premiere of Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour
This ten-screen film installation (on view at Modern One from 29 July–10 October 2021) offers a poetic meditation on the life and times of Frederick Douglass, the visionary African American writer, abolitionist, and a freed slave, who spent two years in Edinburgh in the 1840s campaigning across Scotland, England, and Ireland for freedom and social justice. Modern One, Edinburgh -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 21 2021
Isaac Julien features in the Royal Academy’s Piccadilly Art Takeover
As Isaac Julien prepares for the UK premiere of his ten-screen film installation, Lessons of the Hour, a highlight of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2021, London audiences will enjoy a single-screen adaptation of the film. Video shorts will be shown regularly, culminating in a 30-minute presentation. Piccadilly Circus, London -
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Exhibition
Posted
June 25 2021
Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, featuring Isaac Julien, tours to LUMA, Arles
This major exhibition (4 July–26 September 2021), which originated at The Barbican, considers how masculinity has been coded, performed, and socially constructed from the 1960s to the present day. LUMA, Arles, France -
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Interview
Posted
July 22 2020
Isaac Julien talks to The New York Times
Isaac Julien is one of four artists who talk about how they’ve been spending quarantine and just where, in this era of never-ending screen time, their work should live. Andrew Russeth, The New York Times -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 13 2020
Reopen and extended – Isaac Julien features in Masculinities: Liberation through Photography at the Barbican
This major exhibition (now extended to 23 August 2020) considers how masculinity has been coded, performed, and socially constructed from the 1960s to the present day. Barbican Art Gallery, London -
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Public Art
Posted
April 4 2020
A new mural by Isaac Julien goes on view in La Jolla, California
La Jolla, California, has just welcomed a newly installed public work by Isaac Julien. Julien’s mural, ECLIPSE (PLAYTIME), is a still from the artist's 2013 film Playtime in which he explores and critiques how the flow of financial capital controls the contemporary art world. La Jolla, California -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 16 2020
Isaac Julien and Do Ho Suh feature in When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art opening at Minneapolis Institute of Art
The exhibition (23 February–24 May 2020) considers how contemporary artists are responding to the migration, immigration, and displacement of peoples today. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota -
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News story
Posted
January 29 2020
Isaac Julien creates a limited-edition boxed set of five prints for Art Fund’s Prospect Cottage campaign
Julien's photographic work has been created for Art Fund's campaign to protect Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage and secure its future as a centre of creative activity. -
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Exhibition
Posted
January 12 2020
Isaac Julien’s Western Union: Small Boats at Neuberger Museum of Art
The Neuberger Museum of Art features one of artist Isaac Julien’s most important works, Western Union: Small Boats, (on view 12 February–31 May 2020), a video installation that focuses on journeys across the Mediterranean by so-called 'clandestines' who leave Libya to escape war and famine. Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY -
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News story
Posted
December 11 2019
Isaac Julien and Yayoi Kusama are among Artsy’s Most Influential Artists of 2019
Few artists have done more to push video art forward in recent years than Isaac Julien… Artsy -
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News story
Posted
December 7 2019
Expert Eye: Isaac Julien shares his favourite works at Art Basel Miami Beach
The UK artist and filmmaker shows his regard for long overlooked artists, including Faith Ringgold, Howardena Pindell and Frank Bowling, as featured in The Art Newspaper. Gabriella Angeleti, The Art Newspaper -
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News story
Posted
November 26 2019
The US premiere of Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement takes place at Art Basel Miami Beach
Isaac Julien’s nine-screen installation (on view 5–8 December 2019) offers a meditation on the iconic work and legacy of the visionary modernist architect and designer, Lina Bo Bardi. Presented by Victoria Miro, Nara Roseler, Jessica Silverman in collaboration with Ron Mandos. Miami Beach, Florida -
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Exhibition
Posted
November 25 2019
Guggenheim Bilbao to present Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement in June 2020
Isaac Julien’s Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement (on view 25 June–27 September 2020) traverses a collection of Lina Bo Bardi’s most iconic buildings, offering a meditation on the iconic work and on the legacy of the visionary modernist architect and designer (1914–1992). Guggenheim Bilbao -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 17 2019
Isaac Julien features in Love and Ethnology at HKW, Berlin
Subtitled The Colonial Dialectic of Sensitivity (after Hubert Fichte), the exhibition (18 October 2019–6 January 2020) examines Hubert Fichte’s writing and takes it as the starting point for new artistic works on questions of representation and restitution. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 10 2019
Isaac Julien features in Migrating Worlds: The Art of the Moving Image in Britain at Yale Center for British Art
The exhibition (10 October–29 December 2019) brings together work by eight of Britain’s leading film and video artists in the first exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art dedicated exclusively to the moving image. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 7 2019
Ruby City’s inaugural programme includes an exhibition dedicated to Isaac Julien’s Playtime
On public view from 13 October 2019 (until 2020), Julien's immersive video installation addresses representations of global capital. San Antonio, Texas -
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News
Posted
September 24 2019
Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass goes on view at the SCAD Museum of Art
Lessons of the Hour (until 15 December 2019) is a meditation on the life, words, and actions of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), the visionary African American abolitionist and freed slave, and on the issues of social justice that shaped his life’s work. SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 9 2019
Isaac Julien: Baltimore goes on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art
The work (on view 14 July 2019–5 January 2020) unfolds across three videos as a narrative of two people, filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles and an Afro-Cyborg woman embodied by Vanessa Myrie, making their way through significant cultural sites of the city. Baltimore Museum of Art -
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Event
Posted
July 2 2019
Isaac Julien and Maria Balshaw in conversation
A discussion between Isaac Julien and Director of Tate, Maria Balshaw (6.30–7.30pm, 5 July 2019), exploring themes of time and temporality in relation to his ground-breaking film Looking for Langston, which is currently on display at Tate Britain. Tate Britain -
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Interview
Posted
June 21 2019
Isaac Julien is interviewed by and creates a limited-edition cover for Wallpaper*
The June edition of Wallpaper* features a limited-edition subscribers' cover by the artist and, in an interview with Nick Compton, previews his major new work, Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement, on view at Victoria Miro (7 June–27 July 2019). Wallpaper* -
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Review
Posted
June 7 2019
Contemporary Art Society Director Caroline Douglas writes about Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement
'A hymn from one artist to another, across generations, continents and artforms…' Caroline Douglas, contemporaryartsociety.org -
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Exhibition
Posted
May 13 2019
Isaac Julien: Looking for Langston at Tate Britain
On view until 17 November 2019, Looking for Langston is a film that breaks down traditional divisions between different art forms, and explores Black, queer desire in a setting which has no clear time or place. Tate Britain -
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Review
Posted
May 6 2019
Artforum reviews Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass
‘Set in Rochester, the video spectacularly recasts Douglass as a homegrown internationalist.’ Ciarán Finlayson, Artforum -
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Exhibition
Posted
May 2 2019
Isaac Julien: Playtime at LACMA
Playtime (5 May–11 August 2019) is a captivating critique of the influence of capital in the art world. Los Angeles, California -
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News story
Posted
March 29 2019
Artforum reports on Isaac Julien’s appointment to the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz
Julien and independent curator and writer Mark Nash will work together on developing the Isaac Julien Lab at the UC Santa Cruz campus, which will provide students with the opportunity to assist Julien with project research and the production of moving-image and photographic works. Artforum -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 3 2019
The world premiere of Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass at Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester,
Lessons of the Hour (3 March–12 May 2019) is a meditation on the life, words, and actions of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), the visionary African American abolitionist and freed slave, and on the issues of social justice that shaped his life’s work. Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 26 2019
Isaac Julien: Looking for Langston at the Linda Pace Foundation – Ruby City
Central to the exhibition (28 February–11 August 2019) is Julien’s seminal 1989 documentary-drama Looking for Langston. Also on display are two recently acquired photographic works from the Looking for Langston series, which illuminate the multilayered narratives present throughout Julien’s oeuvre. Ruby City, San Antonio, Texas -
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News
Posted
February 5 2019
Isaac Julien’s The Attendant at the Berlinale Film Festival
Julien's 1993 film is screened twice during The Berlinale (7–17 February 2019). In addition, the artist takes part in the Queer Academy Summit 2019 on 13 February. Berlin -
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Exhibition
Posted
January 23 2019
Isaac Julien: The Leopard at Block Museum of Art
A presentation (26 January–14 April 2019) of Julien’s groundbreaking 2007 video installation The Leopard (Western Union: Small Boats) – a lyrical and visceral meditation on histories of African migration. Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Chicago -
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Exhibition
Posted
January 16 2019
Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem at the Museum of the African Diaspora
This major traveling exhibition (16 January–14 April 2019) features works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Isaac Julien, Wangechi Mutu, Chris Ofili and Howardena Pindell. Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, California -
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Exhibition
Posted
November 22 2018
Michael Jackson: On the Wall, featuring Isaac Julien and Grayson Perry, travels to the Grand Palais, Paris
Travelling from the National Portrait Gallery, London, the exhibition (23 November 2018–14 February 2019) explores the influence of Michael Jackson on some of the leading names in contemporary art. Grand Palais, Paris -
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Exhibition
Posted
August 26 2018
Isaac Julien is featured in Strata – Rock – Dust – Stars at York Art Gallery
The exhibition (28 September–25 November 2018), which showcases groundbreaking moving image, new media and interactive artwork, is inspired by William Smith’s geological map of 1815, which was key in the development of Geology as a science and transformed the way in which we understand the world. York Art Gallery -
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Exhibition
Posted
May 24 2018
Isaac Julien in Höhenrausch 2018
Water is the theme of Höhenrausch 2018 (24 May–14 October 2018), which features work by more than 40 international artists, including The Leopard (Western Untion: Small Boats), 2007, by Isaac Julien. Linz, Austria -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 30 2018
Isaac Julien: Ten Thousand Waves at The Whitworth
Ten Thousand Waves (on display 30 March–28 August 2018) is the most recent in a series of major moving image acquisitions by the Whitworth, and was supported through Art Fund’s Moving Image Fund. The Whitworth, Manchester -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 3 2018
Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves in The Rebellion of Moving Image at MOCA Taipei
The nine-screen installation of Ten Thousand Waves continues its world tour as part of the exhibition (3 March – 6 May 2018), curated by Huang Hsiang-Ning. MOCA Taipei, Taiwan -
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Interview
Posted
February 17 2018
Isaac Julien talks to the Guardian about Looking for Langston, being shown in Sydney as part of the 40th Mardi Gras
‘It’s another watershed moment for the history of queer rights…’ Glenn Dunks, The Guardian -
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News story
Posted
February 9 2018
Isaac Julien is elected as a Royal Academician
The Royal Academy of Arts has elected Isaac Julien as a Royal Academician, following a recent General Assembly. -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 6 2018
Work by Isaac Julien is featured in More of an Avalanche at Wysing Arts Centre
The exhibition (11 February – 8 April 2018) considers what it takes for people in marginalised positions to speak out and the mechanisms that get used to stop them from doing so. Wysing Arts Centre, Bourn, Cambridgeshire -
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Event
Posted
February 5 2018
Isaac Julien talks and screenings in Sydney
Screenings of Looking for Langston and Young Soul Rebels, followed by talks by the artist, take place on 14 and 18 February 2018. Sydney, Australia -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 3 2018
Isaac Julien’s Western Union: Small Boats at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum
A presentation (3 February – 27 May 2018) in the Focus Gallery of the award-winning 2007 film which portrays people attempting to cross continents. Aarhus, Denmark -
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Review
Posted
December 6 2017
SF Weekly reviews Isaac Julien: Playtime
'SFAI's debut show at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture contains three outstanding film installations.' Peter Lawrence Kane, SF Weekly -
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Exhibition
Posted
December 1 2017
Isaac Julien: Playtime at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco
An exhibition (1 December 2017 – 11 February 2018) of three recent video installations. Each film installation explores the wide-ranging effects of how information, labour and capital circulate in global, networked societies. Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco -
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Review
Posted
December 1 2017
The San Francisco Chronicle reviews Isaac Julien: Playtime at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
'Ultra-high-definition video images surround us, weaving together sublime landscapes and brawny city views. They are sumptuous and transfixing; each could be viewed as though it were a distinct work of photographic art.' Charles Desmarais, The San Francisco Chronicle -
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Event
Posted
October 6 2017
Now available as a podcast: Frieze Masters Talks – Isaac Julien in conversation with Nicholas Cullinan
In this hour-long talk, Julien and Cullinan discuss works in the National Portrait Gallery and their influence on Julien's career. Frieze Masters, Regent's Park, London -
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Screening
Posted
September 28 2017
The new, digitally-remastered 2K version of Isaac Julien and Mark Nash’s Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask receives its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival
Screenings take place at NFT3: 5 October 2017, 9pm; Studio: 8 October 2017, 2pm. BFI Southbank, London -
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Channel
September 28 2017
Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask trailer
Isaac Julien and Mark Nash’s Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996) is a film portrait of the revolutionary, writer and psychiatrist, whose classic publications The Wretched of the Earth (1961) and Black Skin White Mask (1952) remain the bibles of decolonisation. The new, digitally-remastered 2K version of the film receives its world premiere at the 2017 BFI London Film Festival. -
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Screening
Posted
September 27 2017
Screenings of Isaac Julien’s Looking for Langston to take place at MoMA, New York
MoMA hosts the second of two screenings of Julien's seminal 1989 film Looking for Langston on 15 October 2017. MoMA, New York -
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Exhibition
Posted
September 25 2017
Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction, featuring Isaac Julien, tours to Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens
Touring from the Barbican Centre, the exhibition (9 October 2017 - 14 January 2018) includes Julien’s 2004 work Encore II (Radioactive). Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 25 2017
Isaac Julien in Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity at Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexual acts in England and Wales (1967 Sexual Offences Act) with a major exhibition (28 July - 5 November 2017) drawn from the Arts Council Collection and its own collections. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
