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First impressions can be deceiving. When Miuccia Prada first met Theaster Gates at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London, Gates was performing on stage with his band The Black Monks. “I thought, my God! He seems so intimidating and unattainable,” says the co-executive director and co-creative director of Italian fashion house Prada, who is also the creative director of Miu Miu. Gates, a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes sculpture, performance, installation, spatial theory and land development, laughs at the memory: “We had rehearsed so much that I had lost my voice. I was concentrating on making sure the notes that came out were good.”
This was in 2012 and Gates had just opened his first European solo show at The Arts Club. The exhibition included his works In the event of a race riot series – where deactivated fire hoses act as symbols of the 1968 civil rights demonstrations in Chicago, when hoses were used for crowd control.
Ten years later, Prada and Gates are the best of friends and collaborators – in the summer they celebrated the first European gathering for the Experimental Design Laboratory of Dorchester Industries: an initiative funded by the Prada Group with the Gates Reconstruction Foundation. The Lab is a three-year program that aims to support and amplify the work of color artists and designers, investing in their development and exposing them to organizations interested in working with different talents, including the Prada brand itself.
“Best friends and collaborators”: Theaster Gates and Miuccia Prada © Lea Anouchinsky
Both dressed in Prada’s signature Celeste Blue, seated in Ristorante Torre at the Fondazione Prada in Milan with sweeping views over the city, the pair chat intensely about the role of art in society, the joy of hard work and their struggle to fight back. social injustice and racism. . “There are moments that made us say: maybe we could do more,” says Gates, who in 2019 was invited by Prada to co-chair the Prada Group’s newly formed Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council. Prada nods in agreement. “Money and scholarships are not enough. I said, why not do something that offers more opportunities? This provides more opportunities for people of color, for women, and to do something useful – and so Theaster invented the Experimental Design Lab,” she says.
Together they are working hard to create a platform that puts real meat on the bones of Prada Group’s comprehensive initiative. “I’d rather do nothing than just make a statement to show that we’re ‘good,'” Prada says passionately. Gates agrees. “It’s not just about racism, but realizing that beautiful things – intelligence, wit, skill and talent – can come from all over the world,” he adds. To this end, those who join the Experimental Design Lab will benefit from the professional, industrial and creative networks of the fashion icon and artist. In turn, the Prada Group will benefit from being open to different expertise and different perspectives.
There are 14 designers and artists in the first group, who were invited to Milan for a two-day vacation full of presentations, activities and meetings. For many, it was their first trip to Italy and their first meeting with Miuccia. One of the highlights was providing front-row seats to the menswear show, where Prada and Raf Simons pushed the boundaries of fashion in a collection that examined menswear archetypes – from cowboy boots to jackets and jeans – followed by by actors like Jeff. Goldblum, Damson Idris and Rami Malek.
The group (most of whom live in the US) were selected from 200 nominees by a panel that included the late Virgil Abloh, writer and director Ava DuVernay and architect David Adjaye. The collective spans a wide variety of disciplines and ages: from product designer Norman Teague and hydroponics expert Yemi Amu to architect Maya Bird-Murphy, dancer/choreographer Kyle Abraham and Kenturah Davis, a visual artist. In the fashion camp, Tolu Coker, Catherine Sarr and shoe designer Kendall Reynolds all lead their brands.
“Miuccia wasn’t just concerned about diversity around fashion,” says Gates. She said: ‘I don’t care about form or artistic intervention as long as it’s about thinking.’ I tried to form a program that is aware and created a group that would benefit from the resources, the platform and from knowing each other – good things can happen from there.”
“There are few people like Teatri. He’s a great artist, but he also cares about people in everything he does,” Prada says of Gates’ talent and sense of civic duty. He is equally in awe of Prada as a figure who has fundamentally changed the way we think about clothing and the art of fashion.
“My interest in art is based on my interest in politics, as I come from a political background [Prada has a PhD in political science from the University of Milan]. So when I find a person who supports this, I’m happy. An institution can display beautiful art, but I try to do something more. Art is always political,” says Prada, who is chief curator and co-president of the Fondazione Prada with her husband Patrizio Bertelli. “Theater creates art that pushes other points of view, raises issues and promotes understanding of what’s happening at this moment in time – and I’m obsessed with that.”
The double act has forged a strong bond over the past decade, which was ignited when Fondazione Prada invited Gates to create the exhibition. True Value, an exploration of labor economies using reclaimed materials. Gates, now 49, the son of a roofer who lived on Chicago’s West Side, is a firm believer in labor and manufacturing integrity. To help galvanize Gates’ show, Prada introduced him to an octogenarian female hardware store owner in Milan who had served rations from the store in the postwar period.
“For me, an artist can choose to solve any number of problems. Your problem may be choosing the color red, but there are other problems you can solve, such as ‘I wish more people had housing in my neighbourhood’. I’m trying to give voice to the things that interest me and that make the political world. I’m invested in beautiful forms, but not beautiful forms without purpose,” adds Gates, who designed the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion as monumental. The black hat. The band Black Monks will perform in this space in October. Gates is also preparing for a solo show opening at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York titled The New Lords and their tracks in honor of the radical thinkers who have shaped his hometown of Chicago—and America as a whole.
The Experimental Design Lab grew out of a mission to put inclusivity at the heart of creativity. “Race and inclusion are my primary work, but I’m also committed to the bigger picture. For example, how do you then make diversity important but also think about our water and food issues? I’m starting with equity and inclusion, and I’m hoping to connect that with environmental stewardship. I also think that artists of color – designers of color – should not only know black art; we need to know all about art, design and fashion,” Gates explains.
While Prada honed her fashion skills working for her family’s luggage brand and creating a unique vision, Gates’ ambition and skill were strengthened while working as a senior transit arts planner for the Chicago Transit Authority. There, he was responsible for a project that included commissioning and curating $70 million worth of artwork across the urban grid. What binds him and Prada is a sense of civic duty and a belief in the power of creative synergy to shape culture.
Prada and Gates first met a decade ago at Ronnie Scott’s in London © Lea Anouchinsky
As he rose as an artist, Gates also began investing in the restoration of dilapidated and dormant buildings on Chicago’s South Side — currently numbering 36. “The hope, ultimately, is to create a cultural district — a hub,” Gates says. for properties. , some of which he runs as the ReBuild Foundation. The enterprise is funded by his own money, private donations and public fundraising. “What I learned from being an artist is not to be too dexterous – to learn in public. Let people see it happen over time so they understand how much hard work it is. We try to keep it raw, keep learning. I’m not a professional developer and the architecture is self-made, but that has its own charm,” he explains. Similarly, Fondazione Prada’s experimental nature opens a window into the brand and its ethos at a time when luxury houses can seem to operate behind closed doors. “We don’t have donors,” Prada says with a smile. “I always say that we should be happy that I earn money with bags so that we can continue to be independent – in that sense we are privileged.”
In the midsummer light, sipping margaritas, the pair share a collaboration that goes beyond language. They are excited to be in each other’s company again. “I want to shadow you in the office and see what happens in a day,” Gates says, beaming. Prada lets it go gently. “I think you will be surprised. I don’t do anything that designers usually do – like sketching or working on a mannequin – I sit and think!”
The pair keep in touch regularly. “I feel like Miuccia is one of the few people I can call. She is someone who works harder than I do – and I need her input. It helps me set a high bar,” says Gates, noting the dedication it takes to run a company. But the Experimental Design Lab isn’t a project the duo has to do; rather they are compelled to act and help others. “We are the son of a roofer, the daughter of a porter. Work is built into us — and the beautiful thing about work is that if something doesn’t work, you work to make it work,” Gates says. Prada smiles in agreement. “Fortunate are those who love their work. It’s my instrument and I want to use it to the best of my ability.”
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