Isaac Julien: Vagabondia, The Long Road to Mazatlan

British artist Isaac Julien’s film installations are spectacular mediations on popular mythology, history, race, and high culture. 

The Long Road to Mazatlán, created in collaboration with Venezuelan-born choreographer Javier De Frutos, is a three-screen telling of a modern cowboy tale set on a scale as vast as the West itself. Vagabondia, Julien’s newest video installation, also features choreography by De Frutos, and a score composed by Paul Gladstone Reid. This vibrant double-projection video collapses narrative, cinematic structure, modern dance, and discourses on culture into a kaleidoscope of color, movement, and architecture. Julien’s films and videos (such as Young Soul Rebels and Looking for Langston, which will be screened in May) have been shown at museums and film festivals around the world. He also lectures and writes extensively on issues of film, art, and sexuality. The Long Road to Mazatlán was co-commissioned by Artpace, San Antonio, TX and Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO, with additional support from the London Arts Board, the Arts Council of England, and the British Council. Vagabondia was created for the exhibition Retrace Your Steps: Remember Tomorrow organized by Hans Ulrich Obrist for the Sir John Soane Museum in London. It was made possible with support from the London Film and Video Development Agency, Rosa de la Cruz, and agnès b.