Isaac Julien reimagines time, transformation and relational worlds inside The Cosmic House.
21 April 2026
‘All That Changes You. Metamorphosis’ unfolds as a meditation on transformation, as sensorial as it is philosophical. Conceived as a site-responsive work, the film inhabits Charles Jencks’s postmodern architectural cosmos, where time loops, folds and returns rather than proceeds in a straight line.
Isaac Julien’s moving image drifts across geographies and imaginaries, from Californian redwoods to Renaissance interiors, threading together ecological, cultural and temporal registers into a fluid, non-linear narrative. The presence of two protagonists, Lilith and Naomi, anchors this expansive inquiry, their journeys tracing an ethics of interdependence shaped by feminist science fiction and critical theory.
Here, architecture is not a backdrop but an interlocutor. The Cosmic House becomes an active agent, with its symbolic language resonating with Julien’s exploration of cosmology as both a scientific construct and a poetic proposition. Human and non-human worlds intersect, dissolving boundaries between body, environment and myth.
In this charged dialogue between film and space, Julien proposes transformation as a condition of being, one that demands attention to care, continuity and coexistence in an increasingly entangled world.
This exhibition is on view at The Cosmic House in London from 22 April until 18 December 2026.
