Prada: Never Lose Sight of Elegance
Prada Foundation inaugurated a new building in Milan on Saturday, May 9. A few days earlier, the Foundation had opened its exhibition Portable Classic in Venice.
The Milan venue was designed by the renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’ OMA studio. It is an ambitious bet: the architectural complex comprises 19,000 square meters and more than half of that surface will host exhibitions. As is customary in every contemporary museum, the complex boasts a spacious bar, which was designed by film director Wes Anderson and evokes the atmosphere of the Milanese cafes of the mid-20th century.
The exhibition space of Prada Foundation’s Venice venue does not fall behind in terms of historicist charm. Ca’ Corner della Regina, the local headquarters of Prada Foundation since 2011, is a dream palace designed in the 16th century in a baroque style of slender lines. Ample balconies and bulky balustrades characterize the style of this building, which also houses the Biennial’s archives.
For further evocations of the historical past, let us note the nature of the exhibitions that are being held in each of the Foundation’s venues. Serial Classic in Milan and Portable Classic in Venice open a window – respectively – onto the world of serial copies and the world of miniature reproductions of Greek-Roman statues.
But such splendor of forms and exquisite nostalgia of the past were eclipsed into the background by an episode that occurred during the Venetian opening. Visitors attending the event, the press, and even the statues turned their eyes to the impressive dip that ended with a dozen guests in the waters of the Grand Canal. What originated this unexpected embarrassment? Visitors disregarded the warnings of the locals and exceeded the weight limit of the platform that connected the water taxi – the vaporetto – with the building. The result: the terrified gaze of Miuccia Prada, who was waiting at the entrance, and a good many elegant characters left with soaked clothes. The association with the Prada exhibitions is inevitable; art historians would refer to the wet-clothes style that characterizes a large part of Greek sculptures.
On second thought, we might consider the dip a good performance; everything very much in sync, with great attention to detail.
