Opening: Isaac Julien. All That Changes You. Metamorphosis at Palazzo Te, Mantua

Lorenzo Giusti appointed curator for the world premiere of Isaac Julien’s “All That Changes You. Metamorphosis”, presented to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Palazzo Te, taking place from 4 October 2025 to 1 February 2026 in the Fruttiere spaces, Palazzo Te, Mantua, Italy.

To mark the 500th anniversary of Palazzo Te, British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien will present the world premiere of his new ten-screen installation All That Changes You. Metamorphosis.
The work engages with Giulio Romano’s masterpiece, unfolding across multiple settings that range from Charles Jencks’s postmodern Cosmic House in London to the ancient forests of California’s Redwood National and the Herzog & de Meuron pavilion. Featuring Sheila Atim and Gwendoline Christie, the installation reimagines the theme of metamorphosis, embracing a post-anthropocentric perspective and envisioning renewal through the ceaseless process of transformation.

The title references Octavia E. Butler: “All that you touch you change, and all that you change changes you.” The protagonists Lilith and Naomi—inspired by the novels of Butler and Naomi Mitchison—engage in dialogues through textual fragments of speculative fiction and feminist theory, interrogating the possibilities of interspecies coexistence. The film opens with Donna Haraway reading passages from Staying with the Trouble, inviting us to “stay with the trouble,” establishing a framework for thinking transformation and coexistence beyond human-centric perspectives.

In Isaac Julien’s film Palazzo Te becomes a co-protagonist: the Sala dei Giganti, with its apocalyptic fall of the Titans, serves as metaphor for the collapse of classical humanism and starting point for regeneration. The installation works through proliferation and deviation, dissolving boundaries between species and temporal scales. As Naomi states: “We are not in control. Everything is in flux. Perhaps our task is to become capable of responding.” A radical invitation to rethink the human not as center but as part of an interdependent network, where survival is built through relations of care and shared transformation.