Fondazione Prada held an invite-only event at their via Fogazzaro exhibition space last night, to give those lucky invitees a sneak preview of German artist Tobias Rehberger's newest installation, "On Otto". The exhibition was commissioned as one of the two annual offerings by the foundation, which was established in 1993 by the saint of all that is holy in fashion, Ms. Miuccia Prada (and chief executive of Prada, Patrizio Bertelli).
The exhibition elements have been erected in the giant warehouse space on the first floor of the foundation, and features four large, free-standing, walk-through pavilions. The concurrent themes of the exhibition spaces are evocative of mazes, and you stumble in half-darkness towards movie screens, mirrored rooms, and lucite corridors lined with screenplays and storyboard sketches. Outside of each pavilion have been stationed large movie screens, where images of solitary spectators are projected. The spectators are manifestations of IRL Kim Basinger, Willem Dafoe, Emmy Rossum, Justin Henry, and Danny DeVito. Oh hay. In all honesty, I looked at the screens and didn't gauge the likeness of anyone, but that could have been all the champagne imbibed.
I personally found it too conceptual to digest, and disliked being herded into the maze-like, hot, claustrophobic ensconces of space while sounds of alarm clocks and dripping water were piped-through the low ceilings (thanks to Ennio Morricone’s attribution of sound and music). As an exploration of film, architecture, and design, it was intended as a demystification of the filmmaking process, which I didn't quite "get". LOL ART R NOT 4 TEH DUM LOL!!11 It was ambiguous, and just too disjointed to follow.
If you’re in Milan and have a fetish for Rehberger’s work, the show opens today to the public, and runs until June 6, 2007. The Fondazione is easy to find, and a 20 minute walk from il Duomo.
