For its third edition ‘Being Home’, Prada Frames examines the living environment as a framework to address contemporary challenges. The home is not merely a source of comfort; it is a shelter and an infrastructure of services. This constantly evolving space is also where socio-economic norms have historically been shaped. The symposium explores domestic infrastructures, housing precarity, socio-economic structures and systems of governance, the impact of technological advancements on sleep, leisure, and labour, societal biases, and alternative forms of togetherness and intimacy.
Milan’s Museo Bagatti Valsecchi — once a fantastical house erected by two rather eccentric brothers — plays host to Prada Frames: Being Home, gathering intimate conversations and thematic lectures which occur simultaneously in various rooms: bedroom, library, bathroom, dining room and the living room — all of which you can find as podcast episodes via this site, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You will also hear from host, design critic and writer Alice Rawsthorn, elaborating each of these room typologies, connecting their evolutions to broader shifts in social, political, and cultural landscapes. For this first and very special episode, we’re sitting with the brains behind the brilliance, before it all begins; namely: Prada Frames curators Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of FormaFantasma, and hosts Alice Rawsthorn and Natalia Grabowska.
About
Prada Frames is a multidisciplinary symposium curated by FormaFantasma for Prada that explores the complex relationship between the natural environment and design. The collective effort aims to frame, analyse, contextualise, and define new perspectives on a plethora of themes. For its third edition titled ‘Being Home,’ Prada Frames examines the living environment as a framework to address contemporary challenges. The home is not merely a source of comfort; it acts as a shelter and an infrastructure of services. The extensive program of events takes place during Milan’s Salone del Mobile from Sunday, April 14 through Tuesday, April 16 2024 at the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi in Milan.
Bios
FormaFantasma is a research-based design studio investigating the ecological, historical, political and social forces shaping the discipline of design today. Whether designing for a client or developing self – initiated projects, the studio applies the same rigorous attention to context, processes and details. Formafantasma’s analytical nature translates in meticulous visual outcomes, products and strategies.
Alice Rawsthorn is an award-winning design critic and author, whose books include Design as an Attitude and, most recently, Design Emergency: Building a Better Future, co-written with Paola Antonelli, senior design curator at MoMA, New York. Rawsthorn’s books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and her weekly design column for The New York Times was syndicated worldwide for over a decade. In all her work, Rawsthorn champions the role of design as a social, political and ecological tool. Rawsthorn is a founding member of the Writers for Liberty campaign for human rights and of DemocracyNext’s advisory board. Rawsthorn is also a cofounder, with Paola, of the Design Emergency podcast, which explores design’s role in fostering positive change.
Natalia Grabowska is curator and researcher based in London. She is Curator at Large, Architecture and Site-specific Projects at Serpentine, London. She also works with artist Alvaro Barrington on his artistic, architectural, and community projects. She previously worked in international institutions and galleries, including V.O Curations, London, Lisson Gallery, London, Artists Space, New York, and Sprüth Magers, London, and was part of curatorial teams for site-specific exhibitions and biennales. Her curatorial practice and research focus on site-responsive projects and investigate how built environments shape our behaviors and emotional responses.
Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and digital curator whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2015 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Parallel to her work at KoozArch, Federica is Architect at the architecture studio UNA and researcher at the non-profit agency for change UNLESS where she is project manager of the research "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.
