Fondazione Prada, thank you. I have been waiting for an arts complex like this to come to Italy. This incredible Milan contemporary art foundation doesn’t just have the big bucks to show off great art from its collection along with provocative temporary shows but even bigger balls to create a world inside its 19,000 sq m complex for culture vultures.
A destination art world
When Fondazione Prada, the art foundation founded in 1993 by Miuccia Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli, decided it need a reboot it, it was thinking physically and metaphysically. Prada’s collection over 800 works of art from the last few decades of the 20th century to the present day, featuring works by artists like Carsten Holler, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, John Chamberlain, and Louise Bourgeois, needed more than a home. It needed a world.
Enter mastermind architect Rem Koolhaas. Koolhaas, known for his ability to transcend space with a good dose of ego, transformed a former distillery in Milan’s southwest into a 21st century artsy mall. He renovated a series of connecting, ground floor buildings into galleries for Prada’s permanent collection, transformed a seven-story tower in a multi-level art venue with a fabulous bar and restaurant, added a state-of-the-art cinema and renovated a cistern into gallery space.
The centerpiece to the space is the Podium, where you’ll queue for tickets, drop your bags, and see the featured exhibition. A glass box, the Podium is all about being seen and puts art on display in quintessentially Prada design with sleek lines, cool tones and bit of playfulness. Attached to the box is the 24 karat gold leafed “Haunted House”, a four story building with installations by Robert Gober and Louise Bourgeouis.
You could spend your entire day at Fondazione Prada. There is a lot of art, but more importantly because the vibe feels good and looks good. Like any museum or gallery space, you are meant to walk through halls of installations, sculpture and painting and more than anything you are meant to enjoy yourself in every single space- whether it be art car collection, the Robert Gober installations in the haunted, or an evening at the on site cinema. There is always pieces to been seen and more than anything, Fondazione Prada isn’t just about the exhibition, it’s about the experience.
Bar Luce
Go, get your art on and then make sure to visit Bar Luce, the deliciously decorated, ersatz vintage bar designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson. Anderson is a long time Prada collaborator who created and filmed the 2013 Prada short film Castello Calvacanti (starring my friend Giorgio! ), and his Bar Luce is a charming lovesong to yesteryear’s cafes. Charming from its Anderson-designed wall paper, vintage furniture and bar counter, to the Anderson-created pinball machines and curated jukebox. It’s that cute.
And it’s a serious spot for a delicious sandwich. Bar Luce’s menu may the most replete selection of gourmet sandwiches organized by main ingredient from speck and bresaola to foie gras. The cocktails are perfect, nothing else can be said and the staff is impeccable. (Bar Luce is the art manifestation of Marchesi, the historic bar that Prada now owns.) No wonder that people will stand in line for 30 minutes just for a light snack.
Originally written at 2015 opening, updated in 2023.
