Featuring 10 major video installations made between 1999 and 2022, plus the artist’s early films, Isaac Julien: I Dream a World is the largest exhibition of Isaac Julien’s work to date. It is also the first video-only exhibition at the de Young. Here are 5 tips to help you get the most out of your visit.

1. Get moving

Julien’s multiscreen video installations are designed to engage you as an active participant. Some works are presented like triptych paintings in a three-screen format. Others, such as the nine-screen Ten Thousand Waves (2010), are arranged so that you need to physically turn and walk around the space to view all parts. Since no single position lets you see everything at once, try being a “mobile spectator,” moving around to watch from different perspectives. This concept of the “mobile spectator” ties into key themes in Julien’s work, including the diaspora, migration, and movement across boundaries.

2. Choose your own adventure

With the exception of Ten Thousand Waves in Wilsey Court (one of our free public spaces), I Dream a World is located in the de Young’s lower level galleries. At one end are Julien’s early films, including This Is Not an AIDS Advertisement (1987) and, at the other, his most recent work, including Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die) (2022). An atrium in the center of the exhibition connects to several video installation rooms. You can read about the pieces at entryways and see how far along they are in their running times. Check in with a Visitor Experience Associate before entering for guidance on where to start, and then choose your own adventure. Watch one film through its entirety or dip in and out at your own pace.

3. Find your new favorite

Isaac Julien’s 10-screen Lessons of the Hour (2019), a recent acquisition, is on view at the de Young for the first time. This major multiscreen installation is a tribute to the life and work of visionary abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Through striking imagery, historical reenactments, poetic speeches, and contemporary protest footage, Julien illustrates the enduring relevance of Douglass’s ideas on justice and freedom. Located off the exhibition’s central atrium, with a running time of approximately 30 minutes, the work is a must-see. It may just be your new FAMSF favorite. 

4. Focus on what speaks to you

Julien’s works break down barriers between art forms — including film, photography, music, dance, poetry, and sculpture. The works also explore themes of race, class, gender, and identity. The Long Road to Mazatlán (1999), centered on an erotically charged exchange between two Texas cowboys, combines color and choreography to explore the social construct of masculinity in the American Southwest. Immerse yourself in the multilayered artistry of Julien’s installations, and focus on what speaks to you — be it the visuals, sounds, or your own emotional response.

5. Imagine new possibilities

Julien’s video installations reimagine history, blending past, present, and future, as the artist says, “like a waking dream.” In the three-screen Lina Bo Bardi: A Marvellous Entanglement, which focuses on the practice and philosophy of Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi, Julien’s creative choices mirror Bo Bardi’s words: “Time is not linear, it is a marvelous entanglement, where at any moment points can be chosen and solutions invented without beginning or end.” Embrace your creativity and this “entanglement” between the past and present to dream up your own inventive possibilities for the future.