Prada’s thirteenth edition of Prada Mode transformed the newly restored Town Hall in King’s Cross into a world where art, cinema, and fashion collided with cinematic surrealism. Presented in collaboration with artists Elmgreen & Dragset, the two-day cultural takeover coincided with Frieze London, drawing the city’s creative vanguard into a uniquely Prada experience – one that questioned what it means to watch, feel, and to belong in the age of image overload.
At its core was The Audience, an immersive installation conceived as both sculpture and cinema, and a meditation on spectatorship in the digital era. Inside the dimly lit space, a purposefully blurred film by Elmgreen & Dragset played on an infinite loop, while hyperreal sculptures of cinemagoers sat frozen in time, occupying five seats across the auditorium. Each figure – absorbed, distracted, or simply suspended in thought – mirrored the modern condition of fractured attention. Nearby, a companion piece titled The Conversation extended the narrative beyond the screen: a solitary woman, sculpted in uncanny detail, FaceTimed one of the film’s characters from a café table, blurring the borders between the virtual and the real.
Beyond its central installation, Prada Mode London unfolded as a multi-sensory playground. Across two days, guests explored the relationship between audiences, design, and the collective act of ‘looking’ through a rich programme of talks, performances, and live music, all within the meticulously designed Prada environment. From Prada-wrapped smash burgers and cinematic cocktails to the atmospheric lighting that shifted with each performance, the event became an embodiment of Prada’s talent for staging experiences that are as intellectual as they are irresistible.
Day One: The Art of Watching
The opening day began with a private dinner honouring Elmgreen & Dragset, followed by a series of thought-provoking talks and performances. Cultural theorist Kirsty Sedgman, known as the “doctor of audiences,” delivered a lecture titled Sit Down and Be Quiet, tracing the evolution of audience behaviour and its transformation in the digital age. Later, production designers Shona Heath and James Price, in conversation with Paolo Moretti, explored the relationship between space, design, and perception in Designing for an Audience, Real and Unreal.
The evening segued into a lively sequence of performances and DJ sets: James Massiah’s spoken-word and sonic experimentations set the tone, followed by performances from Lynda Dawn and ENNY, before the venue transformed into a dance floor with sets by Mimi Xu, SBTRKT, and Call Super.
Day Two: Performing the Public
The second day deepened the conversation around spectatorship and creative exchange. Architect Elizabeth Diller joined Elmgreen & Dragset for Performing Publics, a discussion on how cultural spaces can challenge and engage their audiences. Later, The Audience Is Many saw artist Sir Isaac Julien, in conversation with Efe Çakarel, reflect on how his multi-screen installations and films engage with diverse publics across museums, festivals, and streaming platforms.
Throughout the day, live performances by Calum Goring, Toby Webster, Léa Sen, Tony Njoku, and Bendik Giske, alongside a vibrant set from DJ Bobby, animated the Town Hall, reinforcing Prada’s seamless interplay between the intellectual and the experiential.
Prada Mode London was an experiment in spectatorship and belonging, transforming a historic space into a prism of modern experience. In this Prada-crafted world, film, art, and fashion converged, inviting audiences not only to watch but to question how, why, and where we watch at all.
The installation offered London a rare glimpse into Prada’s ongoing dialogue between culture and couture – a world where reality, reflection, and the runway fold into one another.
