The 2026 edition of Prada Frames explores how images shape reality, hosted at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

In Milan, during Design Week, Prada Frames reaches its fifth edition and shifts from object to systematic thought. At the helm are Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of Formafantasma, active between Milan and Rotterdam since 2009, whose work has been recognized by institutions such as the MoMA and the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum.
In the setting of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the designers invite a shift in perspective: not to look at images, but to look inside them. As they explain, Prada Frames has always been conceived as a nomadic project, rediscovering different locations in Milan as starting points for each theme, from the Biblioteca Braidense for On Forest, to the Teatro Filodrammatici for Materials in Flux, the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi for Being Home, and, last year, the halls of the Central Station with Gio Ponti&rsquo;s Arlecchino train for In Transit.

L&rsquo;Officiel: How has Prada Frames evolved over these five years?
Simone Farresin (SF): We moved from digital projection to a more physical dialogue with the location. This year we are introducing live music. When the theme is the image, sound becomes its necessary counterpart. We will host an event with the musician Hania Rani.
Andrea Trimarchi (AT):&nbsp;It is admirable that a brand like Prada agrees to invest in the intellectual &ldquo;here and now.&rdquo; We remove aesthetics to bring the content back to the center.
L&rsquo;Officiel: What aspects do you find most stimulating?
SF: From the audience&rsquo;s perspective, it is interesting to make academic and complex topics accessible through dynamic formats, conversations, and lectures. At a moment when design is expanding into other disciplines, we try to move beyond the celebration of the product and the individual ego, toward a collective investigation of the subject.

L&rsquo;O: What is the image for you in an era of representational overload?
SF: We are living in a dangerous moment. On one side, there is a complete distrust of the visual because of AI manipulation. On the other, there is an absolute dependence on it as a crucial tool of information, especially in documenting global conflicts. Together with artists, anthropologists, and sociologists, we will investigate how the image can still be a means to understand truth.
AT: Bringing this reflection on representation to Santa Maria delle Grazie is not accidental, it is a place of iconography par excellence. In addition to the talks in the Sacristy, this year the format expands with nomadic sessions through the cloisters and the basilica, guided by Natalia Grabowska of the Serpentine Gallery, with interventions by critic Alice Rawsthorn.

L&rsquo;O: As sustainability experts, how do you assess the ecological impact of image production today, between energy consumption and data centers?
SF: It is a topic we will explore with Kate Crawford. We have democratized extremely powerful tools like AI; it is as if we had made available to everyone a technology comparable to the atomic bomb, without evaluating its purpose. These technologies are often used to generate empty content, the result of which is digital pollution. Added to this is a loss of expertise. There is also the risk of collective fatigue, a flattening that empties words of meaning, as has already happened with the concept of sustainability. In the long term, it will be the quality of content that makes the difference.
L&rsquo;O: What kind of use of the image concerns you the most?
AT: When it simulates reality so well that it erases its boundaries, we enter a dangerous drift that requires legislative intervention.

L&rsquo;O: How was your exchange with Miuccia Prada?
SF: Extremely constructive and based on mutual respect. Mrs. Prada intervenes with a firm hand to preserve rigor. Here, it is not marketing that leads, but the vision of the brand.
AT: Everything is treated with care, from her approach to collections to architecture and art, as seen in Fondazione Prada or the collaboration with OMA, which designs the show sets. At Prada, there is respect for creativity.

L&rsquo;O: What did you discover during the research phase for this edition?
SF: We were struck by the breadth of the theme, we could have dedicated three or four editions to it. We discovered how technique can, in some cases, reveal the invisible. Time-lapse, for example, is not only an aesthetic device, it showed us that plants are sentient organisms, constantly in motion. This discovery has had important implications. We believe that the image, if used ethically, can still change the world.

Courtesy of Prada.

Prada Frames Marks Its Fifth Edition With a Symposium on the Power of Images

L'OFFICIEL PHILIPPINES APRIL 2026 - Rocio Zobel ₱600 

Prada Frames Marks Its Fifth Edition With a Symposium on the Power of Images

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