Recycling Beauty

The underlying premise of this research is the need to think of the classical not simply as a legacy of the past, but also as a vital element with the power to affect our present and future. The exhibition “Recycling Beauty” at Fondazione Prada aims to draw attention to the moment when an antique artifact crosses the boundary between its condition of abandonment among ruins and the moment its value is reactivated through its reuse. Through an innovative interpretive approach and an experimental exhibition format, ancient heritage—in particular Greco-Roman heritage—becomes, in Salvatore Settis’ words, “a key that provides access to the multiplicity of cultures in the contemporary world”.