Fondazione Prada will relocate its headquarters in the heart of Milan’s industrial area, and inaugurate its new space on May 9th with an interesting artistic program, including the participation of Roman Polanski, Robert Gober, and Thomas Demand.

The new spaces of the art foundation that was set up by designer Miuccia Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli in 1993, is designed by OMA, the architecture studios of the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. The ambitious architectural project consists in taking over a former distillery and turning it into Milan’s newest and largest gallery for contemporary art. The Prada Foundation's new and permanent exhibition spaces will be in a location that includes buildings dating from 1910s. Koolhaas's project will add an exhibition building, auditorium and tower to the existing structure, thereby making it possible to host various festivals, theater performances, symposia and lectures on literature, art, cinema, design, architecture, philosophy and global media. In fact, the new Fondazione Prada will cover 10 buildings, and include a cinema, a library, and other facilities, such as the ‘Haunted House’, an intimate space that will house site-specific installations conceived by international artists.

“Fondazione Prada will not be a museum, but rather the continuation of an intellectual process founded on the exploration of doubt and on extensive research,” said Miuccia Prada in an official statement, adding that official opening is scheduled for May 9th, 2015.

And the upcoming opening program sounds promising. In fact, the official opening ceremony will be preceded by a week of exhibitions and events, from May 2nd to 8th, including the unveiling of site-specific installations by Robert Gober and Thomas Demand, and a documentary and film program curated by Roman Polanski.

The artworks from Prada’s permanent collection will be presented in thematic exhibitions — SERIAL CLASSIC in Milan (from May 9th to August 24th, 2015) and PORTABLE CLASSIC in Venice (from May 9th to September 13th, 2015), as the headquarters of the Prada Foundation remain indeed located in Venice. The exhibition concept is curated and designed by Salvattore Settis, in collaboration with Anna Anguissola, and Davide Gasparotto. Both exhibitions will address the themes of the series and the copy in classical art, and aim to analyze small-scale reproductions of Greco-Roman statuaries, from Renaissance to Neoclassicism.

Fondazione Prada Milan exhibitions
Permanents: THOMAS DEMAND and ROBERT GOBER / LOUISE BOURGEOIS
Until August 24 2015 :SERIAL CLASSIC
Until October 31 2015 :"IN PART"- Curated by Nicholas Cullinan
Until January 10 2016 :"TRITTICO" and "AN INTRODUCTION"
From May 22 to July 25 2015 :ROMAN POLANSKI"My Inspirations"
at FONDAZIONE PRADA Largo Isarco 2 - 20139 Milano

and Permanent exhibition: DAN FLAVIN ALLA CHIESA ROSSA
at SANTA MARIA IN CHIESA ROSSA via Neera 24 - Milano (9:00/12:00 – 16:00/20:00)
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For more information, please consult Fondazione Prada’s history.

Picture courtesy of OMA.