Isaac Julien – Stones Against Diamonds

Presentazione della nuova installazione “Stones Against Diamonds” di Isaac Julien, in collaborazione con Rolls-Royce, in occasione della 56. Biennale di Venezia.

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Isaac Julien will collaborate with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars during the Venice Biennale to preview a new film installation entitled Stones Against Diamonds, 2015. The work, by the renowned British artist and Turner Prize nominee, will debut during the Venice Biennale Vernissage, ahead of a public exhibition of the work, presented by Rolls-Royce, during Art Basel in Basel at the Elisabethenkirche, June 2015. Following Basel, the work will be donated by the artist to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.
Filmed in remote glacial ice caves in the South West of Iceland, the work has been inspired by a passage from a letter written by the Italian-born Brazilian modernist architect and designer, Lina Bo Bardi. The artist explores the architect’s love for semi-precious stones, believing them to be more beautiful than precious gemstones, whilst investigating the role of the subconscious in creative production. The film will explore the portrayal of some of the most beautiful objects as the least precious in a conventional sense.
In supporting the production of the work, Rolls-Royce has enabled Julien and a crew of almost 50 people to gain rare access to the precious wilderness of Iceland, filming deep in the heart of spectacular glacial caves, formed in ice over thousands of years.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0SH
Telephone +44 (0)1243 384063 Fax +44 (0)1243 384918
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In advance of the filming, Isaac Julien travelled to the Home of Rolls-Royce in
Goodwood, England, to study the unique blend of peerless engineering and timeless
hand-craftsmanship that goes into every Rolls-Royce motor car. Here he was inspired
to incorporate the Spirit of Ecstasy into his work. Within Stones Against Diamonds the
iconic mascot, played by Vanessa Myrie, an actress and performer who frequently
appears in Julien’s work, acts as a ‘spirit guide’ taking the viewer on a journey through
a symbolic glistening landscape of glaciers, rocks and black volcanic sands.
Richard Carter, Director of Global Communications, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars said, “We
are honoured to have enabled renowned artist Isaac Julien to create such a
captivating work for the Rolls-Royce art programme. The scale of the work and
inspiration found in celebrated architect and designer Lina Bo Bardi and her love for
spectacular natural materials resonates with Rolls-Royce Bespoke design - where the
finest components come together to create the best cars in the world".
Isaac Julien commented on the work, “The cave can be read as a metaphor of the
unconscious, a place of rich beauty but difficult to access except through the
processes of psychoanalysis and artistic reflection. By inserting some of Bo Bardi’s
emblematic architectural elements in the cave, such as her iconic spiral staircase and
glass easels, I hope to make a connection between her work and these organic
aspects, the stones and the carved glacial ice, the simplicity of forms that was one of
Lina’s signatures.”
Stones against Diamonds is a prelude to a larger piece that Julien is to complete in
2016, which will meditate on Bo Bardi’s creative production, and will be shot in Italy
and Brazil. After being shown in Basel at the Elisabethen Kirchen, the work will be
donated to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London. The public viewing dates for
the showing of the work during Art Basel in Basel in 2015 at the Elisabethenkirche will
be from 16 to 17 June 2015.
Stones Against Diamonds is commissioned as part of the Rolls-Royce art programme,
which draws together the handcrafted elegance of the marque’s motor cars with
contemporary artists around the world. Internationally acclaimed artists including Ugo
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0SH
Telephone +44 (0)1243 384063 Fax +44 (0)1243 384918
www.press.rolls-roycemotorcars.com
Rondinone, Erwin Wurm, Regina Silveira, Will Cotton, Angela Bulloch and Morgan Wong have featured in the programme.
- Ends -
Notes to Editors
Stones Against Diamonds, 2015 has been commissioned by Rolls-Royce with support from Victoria Miro, London and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
It will be on display as an exclusive preview during the 56th Venice Biennale at the Garden of Malipiero Palace, Venice. On Tuesday, 5 May there will be a press brunch from 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM.
RSVP essential to [email protected]
If you are unable to attend this event and are interested in viewing the work, there will be an additional opportunity on Wednesday, 6 May 2015 from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Please contact: Sarah Norton, Sutton PR, [email protected] for more details.
The public viewing dates for the showing of the work during Art Basel in Basel in 2015 at the Elisabethenkirche will be from 16 to 17 June 2015.
Practical information:
Address: Palazzo Malipiero-Barnabò:
S. Marco 3200, Salizzada Malipiero
(ACTV boat line No. 2, boat stop Campo S. Samuele / Palazzo Grassi)
About the Rolls-Royce Art Programme
The Rolls-Royce art programme formally acknowledges the luxury car manufacturer’s connection with the world of art. Including a series of art talks featuring both emerging and established artists, art drives, art walks, art receptions, new commissions of works in situ and partnerships with leading organisations, artists and key figures from the world of contemporary art including; Isaac Julien, Erwin Wurm, Angela Bulloch, Michael Zavros, Ugo Rondinone, Regina Silveira, Will Cotton, John Armleder, Marie-
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The Drive, Westhampnett, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0SH
Telephone +44 (0)1243 384063 Fax +44 (0)1243 384918
www.press.rolls-roycemotorcars.com
Jo Lafontaine, Reza Derakshani, Tomás Saraceno and Karl Lagerfeld have been involved in the initiative to date.
About Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien is one of Britain’s most important and influential installation artists and filmmakers. Born in London in 1960, where he currently lives and works, Julien studied at St Martins’ School of Art. His work draws from and comments on a range of disciplines and practices (film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting, and sculpture) and unites them in dramatic audiovisual film installations, photographic works, and documentary films.
Julien shot to prominence with his 1989 drama-documentary Looking for Langston. In 1991 his film Young Soul Rebels won the Semaine de la Critique prize for best film at the Cannes Film Festival, and he was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001 for his films The Long Road to Mazatlán (1999) and Vagabondia (2000). In 2003 he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Kunst Film Biennale in Cologne for his single screen version of Baltimore, and in 2008, he received a special Teddy for a film on Derek Jarman that he collaborated on with Tilda Swinton, called Derek, at the Berlin International Film Festival. Julien has had multiple solo and group exhibitions around Europe, the United States and Asia. Solo shows at the Pompidou Centre in Paris (2005), MOCA Miami (2005), Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover (2006), the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal (2009), Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2011), SESC Pompeia in Brazil (2012). Julien’s film Ten Thousand Waves (2010) went on world tour, and has been on display in over 15 countries, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2013/14.
Further information:
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