MILAN — Miuccia Prada’s curiosity and inquisitive mind are reflected within the scope of her far-reaching and thought-provoking collections, now designed with Raf Simons on the Prada brand, and singularly at Miu Miu, named after her nickname.

One in all the designer’s longtime interests is art, especially contemporary art, and her passion has been channeled into the Fondazione Prada, first established in 1993 together with her husband Patrizio Bertelli. She is understood to surround herself with a close-knit group of friends, artists, directors and designers, and, while counting on Rem Koolhaas and the AMO agency to offer striking and intriguing sets for her shows, she also opens as much as latest input each season — cue the collaboration with film director Nicolas Winding Refn on the project called “Touch of Crude” for the spring 2023 Prada show presented in Milan last month.

The strong link with artists — and feminine artists particularly — is a key element at Miu Miu as well. For years the corporate has screened all over the world its series of Women’s Tales, a group of short movies by international female directors, followed by conversations and panels related to the movies and the role of ladies in cinema, for instance. Prada has previously worked with artists Meriem Bennani on the Miu Miu spring 2022 show and with Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg on the autumn 2022 show, each in Paris.

This time, for Miu Miu‘s spring 2023 show, which will probably be staged Tuesday on the Palais d’Iéna in Paris once more, Prada is collaborating with Chinese artist Shuang Li, who conceived a video and set installation.

Li lives between Berlin and Geneva and her work comprises performances, interactive web sites, sculpture and moving image installations, and crosses various mediums making up the contemporary digital landscape. She is claimed to explore how various types of technology bring us into contact, and the way they form a part of a neo-liberal apparatus that regulates the body and desire. Her work is currently featured within the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, dubbed “The Milk of Dreams,” curated by Cecilia Alemani and running until Nov. 27.

While specific details about Tuesday’s show set were kept under wraps, in order to surprise guests, here Shuang Li addresses how Miu Miu has grown into something of a manifesto for diversity and inclusion and girls’s empowerment. She underscored how Miuccia Prada champions “the individuality of the feminine artists she works with.”

WWD:  How did you approach the design of the set and seats? What guidelines did you receive from Miuccia Prada or what type of exchange did you have got?

Shuang Li: From the start I used to be encouraged to approach it as if it were an exhibition of mine with a live element. As an alternative of receiving guidelines, it was more of an organic development process between me and Mrs. Prada in addition to OMA and your complete Miu Miu team.

WWD: Is the set connected to the gathering?

S.L.: The set was inspired by our desire to speak, and I felt inspired by the general brand message of empowerment and femininity and all of its facets.  I’d not say that it was directly inspired by the particular collection, more inspired by the work of Mrs. Prada and Miu Miu on the whole.

Miu Miu’s timelessness is born out of impact of the ‘90s, an era that marks the start of a burst in communication, individuality, etc., and which has resonance in my work, and in some ways, remains to be propagating within the ways we expect of a latest type of classic, but additionally the present cultural zeitgeist — it’s no surprise that Mrs. Prada’s sensibilities then are still as relevant and attuned to the moment of now. She’s championed the individuality of the feminine artists she works with and affirms the world making they convey to the gathering.

WWD: What message would you prefer to convey?

S.L.: Generally I’m fascinated by the undeniable fact that we live in a time characterised by hypercommunication. We feel as if our messages fly through the air and immediately arrive at their destination. The truth is, there is a big global infrastructure including undersea cables, satellites, and other pieces of hardware that work in an almost old-fashioned method to connect us all. I even have at all times been interested by the glitches, the messages sent but not received, and our desire to be close to 1 one other and times when that just isn’t at all times possible. 

But additionally artworks on the whole — the message they struggle to convey is generally not the message people receive. I’m continually asked to clarify my work and the cultural background to which it relates. But there appears to be a lot explaining to do, and still a lot that’s lost in translation, partially if not completely. After I moved to Geneva, sooner or later I used to be walking across the neighborhood and walked right into a graveyard. I attempted to read the French epitaphs using Google Translate. One in all the translations said, “Whenever you watch it Sky at night since I’ll live can I’m going in one in every of the celebs. So this will probably be for you. Mom and Dad.” These sentences don’t make sense, yet someway, they don’t must. I’d prefer to think that’s how my work functions.

WWD: How did you meet Miuccia Prada?

S.L: Mrs. Prada, through Fondazione Prada, reached out to me because she had read an interview of mine, saw a few of my works and desired to learn more. In fact, I used to be thrilled to satisfy her and we developed a connection very organically.