ROLLS-ROYCE TO PRESENT A NEW COMMISSION BY ISAAC JULIEN
DURING ART BASEL IN BASEL 2015

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will present the first public showing of Isaac Julien’s new work Stones Against Diamonds during Art Basel in Basel, 2015. The work, commissioned as part of the Rolls-Royce Art Programme, will be shown at the Kirche Elisabethen, Basel, from 16-17 June 2015. Following the preview during the Venice Biennale last month, the video installation will be shown on a larger scale than previously seen, as a unique site specific installation filling the magnificent interior of the imposing church across ten screens.

Isaac Julien’s film draws inspiration from a letter written by Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi. Stones Against Diamonds examines themes within her letter, where she praises the beauty of natural elements over preferred precious stones. Filming the work in remote Vatnajökull region, in South East Iceland, using the breathtaking scenery of glistening ice caves as a set for the film, Julien portrays some of the most beautiful objects as the least precious in a conventional sense. The shoot took place over five days with the crew enduring sub-zero temperatures deep in the heart of spectacular glacial caves, formed in ice over thousands of years and accessible for only a few days a year due to the harsh climate. Signature elements of Bo Bardi’s work have been incorporated into Julien’s work, including a staircase, meticulously built by hand in the ice cave during the production of the film.

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. It 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.

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.