Isaac Julien: 'Great blacks in wax' - backstage at the museum

Isaac Julien, is a film-maker and artist. He studied at Central St Martin's and is the director of the film Young Soul Rebels. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2001. His new work, 'Baltimore', is on show at Fact, Liverpool.

You became famous for Young Soul Rebels and the documentary Looking for Langston. But then you were shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Do you draw a distinction between your work as an artist and your work as a film-maker?

Fundamentally I'm an artist who works in film. In the past 10 years my work has been largely – though not exclusively – produced for galleries and museums. I find the possibilities of multi-screen installation work artistically freeing. I think that the categories of fine art and cinema are outmoded ways of describing moving image culture. A new audience is being created in the gallery for something akin to the kind of experimental cinema that has been dwindling because of the changes in tastes and the meagre resources given to cultural film-makers in the UK.

Your sexy film installation The Long Road to Mazatlan (which you included in the Turner Prize show) features two cowboys in an extended ritual of flirtation. What was the inspiration for the film?

The obvious reference point for the work is Lonesome Cowboys by Andy Warhol. Both Mazatlan and Lonesome Cowboys share a fascination with the mythic codes of the American west and through the presence of the lone white cowboy it also explores white gay iconography, which was certainly something of a departure for me. This was another freeing experience – the lack of a black protagonist allowed me to break with the traditions of my own work.

You have been quite outspoken about the way Hollywood casts a shadow over all other work in film – particularly in its depiction of black and gay people. What is it about the system that offends you most?

The system is the system. When you enter it you understand the rules and on the whole those rules were made in the image of white, heterosexual man. Despite the odd Oscar being awarded to black actors, little has fundamentally changed over the past 40 years. I recently completed a documentary on the legacy of blaxploitation movies, called Baadasssss Cinema Part 1, which addresses some of these issues. It's likely to be screened on BBC2 this autumn as part of the Storyville season.

What do you think about the way that black people are represented in 8 Mile?

It's a very good film. In America, the issue of class is sometimes more important than race: 8 Mile points this out very well.

How would you describe your new work Baltimore?

Baltimore is a three-screen installation shot on film and presented on DVD. The installation utilises the interiors of three of the city of Baltimore's most fascinating museums. It combines fictional narratives with documentary and film-art It is equally informed by the stylistic excesses, gestures and iconography of blaxploitation cinema.

Is there really a museum called Great Blacks in Wax in Baltimore and what do you think of it?

Sure is. It's an extraordinary place established more than 30 years ago located in one of the poorest areas. It's soon to get a new $33m home, which I think, sadly, may mean a much more watered-down version of a pretty hard-hitting institution.

You originally studied painting. Do you think it's a dead medium now?

Nothing ever really dies!

If you could own any work of art in the world, what would it be and why?

The last work I saw that really excited me was a film installation by Bill Viola. If somebody could loan me £150,000 I'd probably be able to put a down-payment on it!

'Baltimore' is at Fact, Liverpool L1 (0151 707 4450) until 27 April