Prada Frames Symposium Announces 2026 Edition 'In Sight' at Milan Design Week

Prada and the design studio Formafantasma have revealed plans for the fifth iteration of their collaborative symposium, Prada Frames. Scheduled for April 19-21, 2026, the event will coincide with Milan Design Week. This year's theme, 'In Sight,' will examine contemporary image creation, addressing how visual representations now involve complex networks of challenges and contradictions. The organizers note that images no longer serve as dependable reflections of reality, with boundaries between human-made and AI-generated content becoming indistinct, which undermines traditional reference points and complicates the identification of trustworthy information. As part of Formafantasma's typical approach, the symposium will also explore the underlying infrastructure of image production, considering resource extraction, energy use, data management, and unseen labor. The venue for the 2026 edition will be the sacristy of Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan, a Renaissance space designed by Donato Bramante that houses Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper.' The location features intricate woodwork by Domenico and Francesco Morone, and attendees will have opportunities for guided tours, integrating architectural context into the symposium experience. Prada Frames launched in 2022 as a series of lectures and discussions led by Formafantasma, quickly establishing itself as a significant component of Milan Design Week, with a prior edition also held at Hong Kong's M+ museum. Past themes have included 'On Forest,' 'Materials in Flux,' 'Being Home,' and 'In Transit,' reflecting both the studio's research interests and broader creative industry topics. Miuccia Prada emphasized at the project's inception that education and culture are vital tools for understanding the world and venturing into the unknown, noting that dialogue has always been central to Prada's exploratory ethos. Formafantasma founders Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin describe Prada Frames as a convergence point for diverse knowledge forms, arguing that today's interconnected challenges require multidisciplinary perspectives from science, humanities, activism, and the arts to foster richer discussions and multifaceted understanding of global systems. Admission is free with registration via prada.com starting April 13, 2026, and speaker details will be announced later.