PRADA MODE TOUCHES DOWN IN DUBAI
Prada’s newest rendition of their social club hosts an art installation by Damien Hirst
TEXT: NICHOLSON BAIRD
In their eighth iteration of Prada Mode, Prada is touching down in Dubai with an art installation by
Damien Hirst. Prada Mode is the Italian fashion house’s traveling social club that provides members
with an extensive art immersion alongside premium music and dining experiences. The event will be
housed in the ICD Brookfield Place in Dubai, the city’s newest landmark building that was designed by Foster + Partners.
For Prada Mode Dubai, a new edition of Pharmacy by Hirst will be shown, following his iteration of the
same title that was exhibited in Prada Mode Moscow last year. Pharmacy was conceived as a fully-
operational restaurant and bar in London in 1988, surrounded by an installation of floor-to-ceiling
medicine cabinets designed by Hirst. The acclaimed artist was responsible for the design of the entire
restaurant; from furniture to architectural details to wallpaper, all drawing inspiration from a catalog of
prescription medicine. Hirst is a natural partner for Prada, as a longtime friend of the house, Hirst
asked Miuccia Prada to design the uniforms for the original Pharmacy over thirty years ago.
“I’m thrilled and honored to be invited by Miuccia Prada to recreate Pharmacy for Prada Mode in Dubai
after our successful collaboration in Moscow,” said the artist. “I’m working really hard with a
complicated but beautiful space, ICD Brookfield Place, to create harmony between the inside and
outside of the new building. Once again, Prada have found a space that will provide the perfect place
for it. I’m so excited to be doing this! I’ve always thought great restaurants can be seen as art, and art
without the evidence as we always remember great meals on great evenings with great people in great
places and in this way Pharmacy is definitely a kinetic artwork, that works best filled with people and
art existing and living and breathing and eating and drinking and enjoying themselves as one.”
In celebration of the opening, Prada Mode hosted a two-day celebration on November 9 and 10 with
early access to the club for members to participate in panels and discussions with some of Dubai’s
prominent patrons of the arts. Guests were able to create their own renditions of Pharmacy spin-
paintings in a workshop, while at night the space was turned into Dubai’s hottest party in true Prada style.
