Isaac Julien, Metamorphosis lands at Galleria Borghese
Published on 08/28/2026 at 11:20 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Isaac Julien extends his metamorphosis cycle into Rome’s museum context with a new staging at Galleria Borghese. From September 15 to October 25, 2026, the Uccelliera pavilion hosts All That Changes You. Metamorphosis in a mirrored single-channel configuration, as the gallery notes in its announcement. Ron Mandos news item
Film installation in the Uccelliera
The Galleria Borghese presentation of All That Changes You. Metamorphosis is conceived specifically for the Uccelliera, the 17th-century pavilion once built for exotic birds, with the installation structured around a system of mirrors in the space.
Julien translates Giulio Romano’s fresco cycle at Palazzo Te in Mantua and Ovid’s theme of transformation into moving image, so that viewers encounter duplicated and refracted images, binding human, natural and technological metamorphosis in the museum context.
From Palazzo Te to Rome’s museum landscape
All That Changes You. Metamorphosis originally premiered as a multi-screen installation at Palazzo Te in Mantua in 2025-26, commissioned for the palazzo’s 500th anniversary, before a five-screen gallery version was shown at Victoria Miro in London in early 2026.
The Rome presentation continues this trajectory by shifting the work from a Renaissance villa into a major museum collection setting, underscoring Julien’s interest in how moving-image installations respond to historically charged architecture and curatorial framing.
All news and background on Isaac Julien
Further reporting on Isaac Julien’s exhibitions, museum presentations and biennial contributions can be found in the AD HOC NEWS archive and via the official project announcement.
The work core in Julien’s practice
Isaac Julien, born in London in 1960, works at the intersection of film, installation and photography, creating multi-screen environments that draw on dance, music and architecture to build non-linear narratives around Black histories and diasporic experience.
Key work groups include the moving-image installations Ten Thousand Waves, Western Union: small boats, Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement, the Frederick Douglass cycle Lessons of the Hour and the archival re-readings in Once Again… (Statues Never Die) and
Where the artist stands now
Within the 30-day window, the next confirmed museum-related date tied to this work is the opening of All That Changes You. Metamorphosis at Galleria Borghese’s Uccelliera in Rome on September 15, 2026, as stated in the project announcement.
Isaac Julien at a glance
- Artist: Isaac Julien
- Medium / Genre: Moving-image installation, film, photography
- Born: 1960, London, United Kingdom
- Place(s) of practice: Lives and works between London and Northern California
- Active since: Early 1980s, with film projects such as Who Killed Colin Roach? and Territories
- Key work groups: Ten Thousand Waves, Western Union: small boats, Lessons of the Hour, All That Changes You. Metamorphosis
- Current/last exhibition: All That Changes You. Metamorphosis, Palazzo Te, Mantua, 4 October 2025 – 1 February 2026
- Major collections: Tate (London), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Guggenheim Museum (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco)
- Awards: Goslar Kaiserring 2022; Knight of the British Empire (KBE) 2022; Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2018; Charles Wollaston Award, Royal Academy of Arts, 2017
- Next date: September 15, 2026 – opening of All That Changes You. Metamorphosis, Uccelliera, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Frequently asked questions about Isaac Julien
Where is Isaac Julien’s All That Changes You. Metamorphosis next on view?
The installation is scheduled for presentation at the Uccelliera in Galleria Borghese, Rome, from September 15 to October 25, 2026, in a mirrored single-channel configuration.
How does All That Changes You. Metamorphosis relate to Palazzo Te?
The work takes Giulio Romano’s fresco cycle at Palazzo Te as a starting point and was first shown there as a multi-screen installation commissioned for the site’s 500th anniversary before traveling in adapted forms.
Which major museums hold works by Isaac Julien?
Julien’s installations and photographic works are in leading public collections including Tate, MoMA, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
