Isaac Julien's Stones Against Diamonds (Ice Cave) draws inspiration from a letter written by Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi and was shot in Iceland's remote ice caves in the Vatnajökull region.

Over five days, the crew endured sub-zero temperatures in the heart of spectacular, glistening glacial caves formed in ice over thousands of years and only accessible a few days a year due to the harsh climate. Thus, the artwork explores themes inspired by Bo Bardi's letter, where she praises the beauty of semi-precious gems over preferred precious stones such as diamonds.

Julien portrays some of the most beautiful objects as the least precious in a conventional sense. Signature elements of Bo Bardi's work have been incorporated into Stones Against Diamonds (Ice Cave), including a staircase built by hand into the ice cave during the production of the film. Continuing the parallels, Julien integrates Bo Bardi's trademark glass and concrete easels into his film.

Augmenting a five-screen version of Stones Against Diamonds (Ice Cave) into the different botanical gardens lends it additional layers by juxtaposing distant and near. In doing so, ecosystems' characteristics are questioned: in their relative temperature – the cold and the warm digitally meeting – but also with regards to notions of natural and cultural, cultivated and wild.

Isaac Julien is a Turner prize-nominated artist and filmmaker; recipient of the Royal Academy of Arts Charles Wollaston Award; appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2017. He creates multi-screen film installations and photographs that incorporate different artistic disciplines to create a unique, poetic visual language. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at MAXXI, Rome, where Julien exhibited his series entitled A Marvellous Entanglement, and the very recent European premiere of his ten-screen installation Lessons of the Hour, at the National Galleries of Scotland (Modern One), heading the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Courtesy of the artist