SAN ANTONIO, TX.- The Linda Pace Foundation announces the presentation of a special three-screen edition of TEN THOUSAND WAVES by Isaac Julien. The work was co-commissioned by the Foundation in 2009, and its presentation continues the organization’s mission to support the work of contemporary artists.

Concurrent with Julien’s TEN THOUSAND WAVES, the Linda Pace Foundation also presents TERRAIN, Selected works from the Linda Pace Foundation collection. The exhibition includes twenty-one works by sixteen artists, including three works by Julien.

TEN THOUSAND WAVES was filmed on location in China and poetically weaves together stories linking China’s ancient past and present. The work explores the movement of people across countries and continents and meditates on unfinished journeys.

Conceived and created over four years, Julien collaborated with some of China’s leading artistic voices, including: the legendary siren of Chinese cinema Maggie Cheung; rising star of Chinese film Zhao Tao; poet Wang Ping; master calligrapher Gong Fagen; artist Yang Fudong; acclaimed cinematographer Zhao Xiaoshi; and a 100-strong Chinese cast and crew. The original musical score is by Julien’s fellow East Londoner Jah Wobble and the Chinese Dub Orchestra, as well as contemporary classical composer Maria de Alvear.

“The original inspiration for TEN THOUSAND WAVES was the Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, in which 23 Chinese cockle-pickers died,” says Julien. ”The work links the Shanghai of the past and present, symbolizing the Chinese transition towards modernity, aspiration and affluence - the so-called ‘Better Life.’ I employed the visual language of ghost stories, with recurrent figures and images appearing and disappearing.”

TEN THOUSAND WAVES crosses the boundaries of past and present, fiction and reality, and feature film and documentary. Connecting social, psychological, aesthetic, mythic, and spiritual dimensions, Julien engages the viewer with poetic beauty while encouraging the critical inquiry of Western-centric cultural globalization.

Julien has worked in the area of moving image for over twenty-five years. He was born in 1960 in London, England, where he currently resides and works. He has received numerous awards and accolades, including a nomination for the Turner Prize in 2001, the Frameline Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, and the Aurora Award in 2005. Julien’s work incorporates different artistic disciplines, drawing from and commenting on film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpture, uniting them to create a unique poetic visual language in audio-visual film installations.

He dedicates the three-screen U.S. premiere of TEN THOUSAND WAVES to “Linda Pace, her work, and her artistic vision.” Julien writes, “the work is a memorial for the 23 Chinese cocklepickers who died in Morecambe Bay, and also about remembering the legacy of Linda Pace. About how Art can uniquely remember Life.”

“Out of Linda’s enthusiasm and generosity grew a hugely significant 12-year collaboration, which has resulted in the making of several exhibitions and works including TEN THOUSAND WAVES. As I have said on several occasions… meeting Linda Pace changed my life, and continues to inspire me.”