As part of our ongoing collaborations with Fondazione Prada, we designed the 2021 exhibition of a sprawling retrospective of Italian painter Domenico Gnoli (1933-1970). The show had a special poignance for the studio – it was originally conceived by our close friend and collaborator Germano Celant, who died of Covid in 2020 before it could be realized.
Working in collaboration with Miuccia Prada and the Fondazione Prada team led by Alessia Salerno, we organized a mannered sequence of parallel gallery walls, dressing each in silky metal mesh to reference the artist’s radical reinterpretation of classical representation. The reflective ambiguity of the walls gave the impression that paintings float slightly off the surface, and lent a mysterious, watery effect as visitors moved about the space. The full exhibit featured a detailed chronology of Gnoli’s career supported by drawings, set-designs, and a range of ephemera.
