Film

  • Isaac Julien: The Ghost of Lina Bo Bardi
    Isaac Julien
    Artist
  • GRANTEE
    IF INNOVATION FOUNDATION
    GRANT YEAR
    2018

Isaac Julien, The Ghost of Lina Bo Bardi (still), 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

Arguably one of the most important personalities of the 20th century Latin American Modernist architecture movement, Lina Bo Bardi was born in Rome in 1914 and left an extraordinary legacy as an architect, set designer, editor, illustrator, furniture designer, and curator. A visionary architect, her work was singularly influenced by Brazilian culture, where she made her home. Isaac Julien's newest film features artists, architects, scholars, and personal acquaintances of Bo Bardi's such as Gilberto Gil, Dicinho, Jose Celso, Marcelo Resende, Ayrson Heraclito, Andrea Vainer, Giancarlo Latorraca, Marina Grinover, Giacomo PIrazzoli and has been inspired by both official and unofficial stories. Yet, the film focuses on Bo Bardi's creative projects: buildings, writings, drawings, and jewels. Departing from the genre of documentary or biopic, Isaac's film serves as a poetic meditation on her life and work. It includes the enactments and the reinventions of scenes that have shaped both historical and fictitious imagery around Lina Bo Bardi.

Isaac Julien is an international artist, filmmaker, and director. He has had solo exhibitions at Centre Pompidou, Paris; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Milwaukee Art Museum; Bass Museum of Art, Miami; St. Louis Art Museum; Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover; SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo; and Aspen Art Museum. Julien participated in the 2004 Whitney Biennial; 8th Shanghai Biennale; and 2012's La Triennale at Palais de Tokyo, Paris. His films have been included in film festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin Biennale, and Venice Film Festival. Julien's works are in museum and private collections and foundations throughout the world including the Tate, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and the Louis Vuitton Art Foundation, Paris.

Lauri Firstenberg is a curator who launched IF INNOVATION FOUNDATION. IF is a new nonprofit platform to support the production of new work with a focus on art in the public realm and artists working in film. She was the founder of LAXART and the executive director and chief curator of LAXART for over a decade having produced over 500 exhibitions and projects with international artists including Mark Bradford, Mary Weatherford, Jen Guidi, Thomas Lawson, Didier Fiuza Faustino, Walead Beshty, Charles Gaines, Rodney Macmillan, Shannon Ebner, Doug Aitken, Yunhee Min, Anna Sew Hoy, and Daniel Joseph Martinez. She has produced biennials and festivals locally and internationally including the California Biennial, the first Los Angeles Biennial at the Hammer Museum in collaboration with LAXART and the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival with the Getty.

IF INNOVATION FOUNDATION is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the production of new works of art staged in experimental contexts. IF is a new platform for supporting artistic production and innovation in Los Angeles. IF is committed to the production of art in the public realm, creating new art for new audiences. IF’s programs include its commitment to artists working in new media, film, and in the realm of technological invention.