PRADA CLUB: Prada’s pop-up cultural platform Prada Mode is moving to Paris.
The fourth iteration of the format, which consists of a traveling social club created to provide members with art programming, late-night music performances and dining, will take place on Jan. 19 and 20, coinciding with the couture show season.
In particular, the two-day Paris residency will be staged in the city’s iconic restaurant Maxim’s in Rue Royale, which is known for having welcomed artists, celebrities and political figures across all generations and for its signature Art Nouveau design interiors.
For the occasion, the Belle Époque location will be transformed with a site-specific intervention by AI researcher and professor Kate Crawford and artist and researcher Trevor Paglen, who conceived the “Training Humans” exhibition running at Osservatorio Fondazione Prada in Milan.
Dubbed “Making Faces,” the Parisian installation will include art projects and architectural modifications focusing on data gathering, surveillance and facial recognition. Visitors will walk through images spanning from the 19th century to the present and retracing the history of facial capture and analysis. Pages from phrenology and physiognomy textbooks, historical mugshots, “training images” used for facial recognition software and measurement tools used to study faces and heads over the last 200 years will also feature in the space.
The Prada Mode platform will also offer panel discussions with leading theorists and practitioners focused on facial recognition’s history, in addition to inviting members to join parties with music performances, specialty dining and cocktails.
As reported, the inaugural Prada Mode was staged in concurrence with Art Basel Miami Beach in 2018. This year, the traveling format touched base at Art Basel Hong Kong in March and Frieze London in October.