Isaac Julien on the art of film

This event can be enjoyed in person at the Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, or via a digital livestream.
Please note, this event can only be watched live. A recording will not be available to livestream ticket holders.

As part of a series of six special talks by artists and architects, Isaac Julien will discuss how uniting different artistic disciplines can create powerful narratives through film.

Sir Isaac Julien RA is a Turner-prize nominated artist and filmmaker and one of the most prominent figures at the intersection of media art and cinema today. Drawing from film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting, and sculpture, he has pioneered multi-screen installations and his work has been celebrated in the art and film worlds. He has exhibited internationally and his work is held in museum and gallery collections worldwide. Julien was awarded a Knighthood as part of the Queen’s Honours List in 2022.

This special lecture is part of our Artists on Art series, a set of six lectures by leading artists and architects, exploring art-making, art education and creativity today. 2023 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Royal Academy’s first president, who lectured on the role of artists and art education at the RA Schools in his ground-breaking Discourses on Art.

Since our foundation over 250 years ago the Royal Academy has been a place for artists, where art is taught, made and shaped. Inspired by the questions Reynolds first posed, Artists on Art addresses what it means to be an artist in the 21st century.

The event will be accompanied by speech to text transcription courtesy of Stagetext.