press release

Fondazione Prada

The Fondazione Prada wishes to present its programme for 2002-2003 by introducing - after a period of intense activity in which the main focus of interest has been art - a stimulating new methodological approach.
The overriding need is that of changing its former structure by becoming flexible and responsive, ready to intervene simultaneously on a variety of fronts and to break fresh ground.
After a careful analysis and study of the possible alternatives, interest has concentrated on a number of themes that have taken concrete form in a crowded calendar of cultural events and exhibitions.
The new operational mode has been developed with regard to different areas of inquiry, and is open to all the forms of visual and spatial communication.
These are analysed through the organization of exhibitions, conferences, special projects and other events that the Fondazione Prada arranges both independently and in close collaboration with a variety of institutions such as national and international museums, universities, schools and private collections, as well as web sites.
As far as its Milan premises are concerned, by moving its exhibition space from Via Spartaco 8 to Via Fogazzaro 36, which may, in the future, become its permanent home, the Fondazione Prada has paved the way for the innovation of the contents of its shows.
The new exhibition space - housed in an austere and simple industrial building that can be transformed rapidly, and also modified functionally - meets the different requirements for each project and is suited to the specific expressive forms of different types of event.
The flexibility of the space is linked to a dynamic capacity for planning, while more attention will be given to events of an international character.
The events may originate and develop simultaneously not only in Milan but also in other cities in Italy or abroad, such as Tokyo, London and New York, so that a multidisciplinary situation is created that is extremely rich with regard to both fresh proposals and the level of its cultural content. From the beginning of the year, the development of relations with international institutions has made it possible to cooperate with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Tokyo for the staging, from 19 January to 24 March 2002, of an important retrospective exhibition devoted to the artist Mariko Mori (Tokyo, Japan, 1967), entitled Pure Land.
This marks the beginning of a new strategy of the Fondazione Prada - that of providing further opportunities for the artists for whom it has already organized exhibitions, or for whom it intends to do so in the future. In keeping with this policy, the exhibition, which was first held at the Fondazione Prada, of works by Enrico Castellani (Castelmassa, province of Rovigo, Italy, 1930), will also be staged at Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge, from 4 May to 23 June 2002. In the field of the visual arts, the present approach of the Fondazione Prada involves a series of choices favouring the agile character of the artists' projects that are to be presented in the space at Via Fogazzaro 36, Milan.
These comprise three solo exhibitions, all conceived specially for this space: April to June 2002, Barry McGee (San Francisco, USA, 1966); autumn 2002, Tom Friedman (St Louis, USA, 1965); spring 2003, Andreas Slominski (Meppen, Germany, 1959). For 2003 it is planned to stage a number of special events that will expand the scope of contemporary art to include different areas such as cinema and the city: the project for a film by Tobias Rehberger (Esslingen, Germany, 1966) and an urban scheme conceived by Charles Ray (Chicago, USA, 1953).
In 2002 the relations with the world of culture in Italy include presentations, seminars and conferences devoted to interdisciplinary interpretations of themes related to different areas of research, such as psychiatry, architecture, design and science that will be housed in the space at Via Fogazzaro 36, Milan, as part of an ongoing dialogue with the institutions, including various university departments.
Furthermore, as part of the continuous exchange of events and information at an international level, the Fondazione Prada intends to organize in New York a series of activities and exhibitions devoted to various forms of artistic expression such as cinema, theatre and music in cooperation with cultural organizations, experimental schools and American universities. In parallel with the expansion of its activities and the increase in the areas of investigation, the Fondazione Prada's publishing venture will be extended to include not only exhibition catalogues and artists' books but also specialized books on architecture, as well as essays, monographs and treatises regarding such fields as philosophy and science.