Serial Classic

Serial Classic will be the first exhibition in the newly opened exhibition space of Fondazione Prada in Milan. It focuses on classical sculpture and explores the ambivalent relationship between originality and imitation in Roman culture.

The exhibition includes more than 70 works with an in-depth analysis of lost originals and their multiple copies, the materials and the colours of classical bronzes and marbles and the technologies and methods used in the making of the copies.

The new venue, conceived by architecture firm OMA—led by Rem Koolhaas—expands the repertoire of spatial typologies in which art can be exhibited and shared with the public. Articulated by an architectural configuration which combines preexisting buildings with three new structures, it is the result of the transformation of a former distillery dating back to the 1910s. Located in Largo Isarco, in the South of Milan, the compound has a gross surface area of 19,000 square meters/205,000 square feet, of which 11,000 square meters/118,000 square feet is dedicated as exhibition space. The entrance building will welcome visitors to two new facilities, developed through special collaborations: a kids’ area designed by a group of students from the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles, and a bar where director Wes Anderson has recreated the typical mood of old Milan cafés.