Sir Isaac Julien (2016 Resident and 2023 New York Gala Centennial Medal honoree) presents a new installation of his film All That Changes You. Metamorphosis on view at the Galleria Borghese in Rome through October 25. The work is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Metamorphoses: Ovid and the Arts, curated by Francesca Cappelletti and Frits Scholten at the Galleria Borghese in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, which closed on September 20.
Conceived as a reinterpretation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the exhibition adapts Julien’s original ten-screen installation to fit the Uccelliera pavilion, originally built in the seventeenth century to house the Villa Borghese’s collection of exotic birds.
Curated by Lorenzo Giusti, the presentation features a single-channel LED version of the work, refracted through a system of mirrors designed to fragment and reflect the film. Created by Julien in collaboration with his partner, curator Mark Nash, the film stars Sheila Atim and Gwendoline Christie.
The film was commissioned and produced by Palazzo Te in Mantua to mark the palace’s 500th anniversary, and it is inspired by Giulio Romano’s fresco cycle there. The site-specific presentation, developed in collaboration with architect Paolo Bertoncini Sabatini specifically for the Villa Borghese, creates a dialogue between the architecture, the audience, and the video. The installation space was conceived as a dynamic perceptual environment in which the images themselves are shifting constantly.
Drawing on a wide constellation of references, from Donna Haraway, whose voice opens the film, to Octavia E. Butler, the film resists an anthropocentric perspective, exploring themes of transformation, mythmaking, the relationship between humans and the “more-than-human,” and coexistence.
Julien’s practice seeks to break down disciplinary boundaries, fostering conversations among film, dance, theater, painting, and sculpture. His multilayered, deeply researched projects are characterized by powerful visual narratives.
An artist whose practice is itself in constant transformation, Julien returns to a city that has helped shape his work.
“Rome has been important to my thinking in ways that extend beyond any single project,” said Julien. "My relationship with the city has encouraged me to consider how artistic ideas, architectural histories, and cultural traditions travel across geographies and periods, continually informing one another.”
“My time at the American Academy deepened my relationship with the city,” he shared, “returning to Rome to present this work feels like a very special moment.”