Hosted at Santa Maria delle Grazie, the program merges design, culture, and critical inquiry
Prada is set to present the fifth edition of Prada Frames, its annual symposium curated by design and research studio Formafantasma, running alongside Milan’s Salone del Mobile.
Positioned at the intersection of design, culture, and society, Prada Frames departs from traditional product-driven formats to foreground intellectual inquiry and cross-disciplinary exchange. The initiative explores contemporary issues through layered perspectives, emphasizing complexity over resolution and critical reflection over definitive answers.
Titled In Sight, this year’s edition examines image-making as a central force in contemporary culture. The symposium addresses the growing dominance of representation over fact, framing images as cultural, political, and material constructs rather than neutral reflections of reality.
Today, images operate within a web of contradictions—where the boundaries between human-authored and machine-generated content continue to blur. As distinctions between truth and fabrication become increasingly difficult to discern, the symposium interrogates how visual culture shapes perception and influences the way reality is understood and negotiated.
Beyond their conceptual implications, images are also examined through their material impact. Prada Frames highlights the infrastructures that underpin digital imagery, from resource extraction and energy consumption to data storage and often invisible labor systems.
Across a series of lectures and conversations, In Sight will explore historical frameworks of visual culture, the environmental and social costs of image production, the political uses of imagery, and the attention economies that govern its circulation.
The symposium will take place within the historic complex of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Talks will be held in the Sacrestia, a Renaissance space attributed to Bramante, featuring inlaid cabinets decorated with sixteenth-century biblical scenes by Domenico and Francesco Morone. Guided visits will allow participants to engage with both the architectural setting and the themes of the program.
Extending beyond academic discourse, the program will conclude with a public-facing evening that brings together key ideas from the symposium alongside a music performance, opening the conversation to a broader audience.
Admission to Prada Frames In Sight is complimentary upon registration via prada.com starting April 13, subject to availability.