@Prada Group
On 16 and 17 of February, Prada presented the seventh iteration of Prada Mode at Genghis Cohen featuring an immersive installation by the artist Martine Syms, to coincide with Frieze Los Angeles Art fair.
A traveling social club with a focus on contemporary culture, Prada Mode provides members with a unique art experience along with music, dining, and conversations.
Prada Mode Los Angeles occupied Genghis Cohen, the iconic restaurant and music venue on historic Fairfax Avenue. The location was transformed by the artist Martine Syms with the interactive installation titled “HelLA World.” Syms, known for a practice that blends “conceptual grit, humor, and social commentary” has shown extensively around the United States and internationally, and has created commissioned work for various partners.
“HelLA World” by Martine Syms is a text and video installation equal parts live performance, narrative exposition, and casual conversation with a stranger.
@Prada Group
Centered around a ticker-tape style monitor, the installation encouraged guests to contribute messages, gossip, status updates and musings. These were complemented by additional monitors around the restaurant showing images and video.
Bold and immersive, the monitors wrapping the space made public these exchanges conducted through our phones, reveling in the possibility of the collective unconscious writ large. Some spontaneous, some scripted, the exchanges are shot through with the repetition, predictability, frustration, humor, and occasional revelation that characterizes communication through technology. The text provided the backdrop for the experience, suggesting both the banality and the frisson of texting with a stranger, offering fodder for conversations taking place live in the space, and complementing the immersive underground environment the artist establishes for Prada Mode.
@Prada Group
