MILAN — Prada Mode is headed to Abu Dhabi.
The eleventh iteration of the architectural and cultural activation will happen on Feb. 11 and 12 on the MiZa district within the United Arab Emirates’ metropolis’s Mina Zayed neighborhood and will likely be open to the general public the 2 following days.
Prada Mode Abu Dhabi will likely be developed in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Theaster Gates, with whom the Italian luxurious manufacturers has already collaborated twice on earlier variations of the occasion.
The corporate stated that the 2025 occasion facilities on “a reaffirmation of the minimal and analogue amidst the modern cultural dominance of know-how and AI.”
The MiZa district, a inventive and cultural hub established in Abu Dhabi within the ‘70s, is to be reconfigured with an architectural set up hinged on the “circle inside a sq.” idea that includes a tall cylinder construction dividing the realm into two areas.
Acoustic music units fostering contemplation will animate the inside of the cylinder, whereas the exterior space will likely be characterised by reside performances and DJ units. The 2-day musical programming will likely be co-curated by Gates and NTS, the latter an area for radio and artistic tasks based by Femi Adeyemi.
The musical activations will likely be flanked by a cultural program developed by artwork guide, cultural strategist and editor Myrna Ayad and hinged on conversations and performances centered on regional feminine skills to focus on the contribution of Arab ladies to tradition.
The 2-day occasion may also supply culinary experiences supplied by chef Salam Daqqaq, highlighting the delicacies of various communities residing in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
“This area is a mirrored image on the religious potentialities of quietude, the ability of gathering, the contiguity between the aesthetic of the previous and their relevance for the long run, and reverence for Arab ladies,” stated Gates. “As we more and more exist in a world the place computer-generated potentialities govern our actuality, my idea for Prada Mode Abu Dhabi is an homage to our interiority, the human hand, and our religious contributions to the wealthy cultural histories of this area.”
Gates, whose apply is rooted in conceptual formalism, sculpture, area concept, land artwork, and efficiency, collaborated with Prada Mode in 2018 and 2019, for the Miami and London editions, respectively.
Final 12 months, Prada Mode traveled to Los Angeles, presenting the third version of The Double Membership, a venture by Carsten Höller, in collaboration with Luna Luna on the Luna Luna Studio.
In 2023 Prada Mode came about in affiliation with the Tokyo metropolitan authorities and the Teien Artwork Museum, one in every of Japan’s predominant establishments. It was hosted and curated by award-winning architect and longtime Prada collaborator Kazuyo Sejima, the director of the Teien Artwork Museum.
The inaugural Prada Mode was staged throughout Artwork Basel Miami Seashore in 2018. The next 12 months the format touched down at Artwork Basel Hong Kong and Frieze London, whereas in 2020 Prada introduced the members’ membership to Paris and to Shanghai, the place the model invited producer, director and author Jia Zhangke to rework the Prada Rong Zhai villa with a site-specific set up known as “Miàn” based mostly on his cinematic work.
In 2021, the COVID-19-disrupted version in Moscow was held in December, whereas in February 2022 the format touched down in Los Angeles throughout Frieze that includes a collaboration with artist Martine Syms.
In November 2022, Prada Mode headed to Dubai with a reprise of Damien Hirst’s “Pharmacy” set up on the ICD Brookfield Place, a skyscraper designed by Foster + Companions within the coronary heart of town’s Worldwide Monetary Centre.
Previous iterations featured works and installations by a number of artists, administrators and photographers, equivalent to Jamie Diamond, Kate Crawford, Trevor Paglen, Lee Sook-Kyung, Kim Jee-Woon, Yeon Sang-ho and Jeong Dahee, along with Gates, Zhangke, Hirst, Sejima, and Syms, amongst others.
