Prada Frames: On Forest
Prada, 2022
Prada Frames is a multidisciplinary symposium that investigates the complex relationship between the natural environment and design. Conceived as a platform for collective reflection, it brings together innovative perspectives and contributes to the development of a forward-thinking body of knowledge. Its approach is both scientific and educational, combining research with accessible, critical discourse. Reflecting the growing relevance of environmental studies across disciplines, Prada Frames convenes a diverse range of contributors, including scientists, architects, designers, artists, activists, anthropologists, and legal experts.
The first edition focuses on the forest ecosystem and the logics governing the contemporary timber industry, extending this inquiry to the role of design and science as agents of change.
Held from June 6 to 8, 2022, at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense in Milan, the symposium unfolds over two daily sessions featuring readings, debates, conversations, and video projections.
The full program is avaiable at prada.com.
Held from June 6 to 8, 2022, at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense in Milan, the symposium unfolds over two daily sessions featuring readings, debates, conversations, and video projections.
The full program is avaiable at prada.com.
The Biblioteca Braidense, located within the Pinacoteca di Brera, provides a significant historical and cultural setting. Founded in 1770 by Empress Maria Teresa, the library houses over 1.5 million items, including manuscripts, incunabula, periodicals, and autographs, making it the third-largest library in Italy by book heritage. In keeping with the intention to prioritize content over display, the exhibition design is deliberately minimal. Seating consists of wooden chairs from the Prada Archive alongside a curated selection of iconic designs by Gio Ponti, Franco Albini, and Gerrit T. Rietveld, provided by the Italian design company Cassina.
The symposium examines the relationship between humans and forests through an interdisciplinary perspective, presenting forests as living, interconnected systems shaped by ecological, cultural, and political dynamics. It frames forests as sentient communities, explores how media and architecture influence the perception of nature and contribute to ecological justice, and traces historical interactions between human societies and forest resources while proposing alternative narratives of the climate crisis.
Design is addressed as a tool for sustainability, reuse, and shared responsibility, alongside discussions on governance, including carbon storage and offsetting. Sensory and scientific approaches, such as sound, smell, and dendrochronology, offer further ways of understanding ecosystems. The program ultimately integrates Indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices, envisioning forests as dynamic environments in which human and non-human life are deeply interconnected.
Contributions by:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 1
- Amitav Ghosh, anthropologist, journalist, award-winning author
- Dan Handel, writer, curator
- Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of The Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona
- Eyal Weizman, architect, founder and director of Forensic Architecture
- Marianne Goebl, managing director at Artek
- Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator and Director of R&D, MoMA, and co-founder of Design Emergency
- Rebecca Lewin, curator of Exhibitions and Design at Serpentine Galleries, London
- Sophie Chao, researcher and lecturer at Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney
- Teresa Castro, Associate Professor in Film Studies at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris
Day 2
- Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Artist, writer, curator, with
- Alice Rawsthorn, Author of Design as an Attitude, co-founder of Design Emergency
- Andrés Jaque, Architect, researcher and curator, founder of Office for Political Innovation, New York and Madrid
- Beatrice Leanza, Cultural strategist, critic, curator
- David Monacchi, Eco-acoustics researcher, composer, founder of the project Fragments of Extinction
- GEO-design students: Ayla Kekhia, Connor Cook, Yassine Ben Abdallah, Designers, GEO-Design, DAE students
- Gerald Koch, Wood anatomist at Thuenen-Institute of Wood Research, Hamburg, with Formafantasma
- Rotor, Brussels-based Cooperative Design Practice
- Sissel Tolaas, Smell researcher and artist
Valerie Trouet, Professor in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona, USA
Day 3
- Anna Tsing, Anthropologist at University of California, USA, co-editor of "Feral Atlas: The More-than-Human Anthropocene”
- Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
- Cave Bureau, Architecture practice based in Nairobi, Kenya
- E-WERK Luckenwalde, Kunststrom renewable power station and art centre
- Feifei Zhou, Spatial and visual designer, co-editor of "Feral Atlas: The More-than-Human Anthropocene"
- Niklas Kaskeala, Chief Impact Officer at Compensate
- Paulo Tavares, Architect, writer
- Philipp Pattberg, Sustainability scientist at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
- Stefano Boeri, Architect, urban planner, Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano
- Ursula Biemann, Artist, writer and video essayist
