Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince in Dialogue at Fondazione Prada's 'Helter Skelter'
During the 2026 Venice Biennale, Fondazione Prada presents 'Helter Skelter', a major exhibition pairing Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince for the first time. Curated by Nancy Spector and installed at Ca' Corner della Regina, the show features over 50 works including photographs, videos, sculptures, installations, and new commissions. Highlights include Jafa's 'Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death' (2016), 'The White Album' (2018), 'SloPEX' (2023), and the new sprawling installation 'Viriconium' (2026). Also on view is 'BEN GAZARRA' (2024), which revisits Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' (1976) with its originally intended Black casting. In an interview with Whitewall, Jafa discusses his interest in Prince's work, calling him 'the master thief', and elaborates on concepts like 'affective proximity', a term from his friend John Akomfrah, and the 'virtual' as defined by architectural theorist Karl Chu. Jafa reflects on his working-class identity and his commitment to making work 'like Black people' rather than about them. The exhibition title 'Helter Skelter' carries associations with the Beatles, Charles Manson, and Joan Didion, and Jafa notes the duality of 'me and I' reflecting the two artists. He emphasizes his interest in opening up meanings rather than narrowing them, and in the possibility that things can always be otherwise.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Helter Skelter' at Fondazione Prada during 2026 Venice Biennale
- First-time dialogue between Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince
- Curated by Nancy Spector
- Installed at Ca' Corner della Regina, Venice
- Over 50 works including photographs, videos, sculptures, installations, and new commissions
- Key works: 'Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death' (2016), 'The White Album' (2018), 'SloPEX' (2023), 'Viriconium' (2026), 'BEN GAZARRA' (2024)
- Jafa calls Prince 'the master thief'
- Jafa cites John Akomfrah's term 'affective proximity'
- Jafa references Karl Chu's definition of the 'virtual'
- Title 'Helter Skelter' evokes Beatles, Charles Manson, Joan Didion
- Jafa aims to make work 'like Black people'
- Jafa interested in 'alternity' and destabilizing images
Entities
Artists
- Arthur Jafa
- Richard Prince
- John Akomfrah
- Martin Scorsese
- Joan Didion
- Charles Manson
- Karl Chu
- Barbara Gladstone
- Andy Warhol
- Brooke Shields
- Gary Gross
- Kametra Barbour
- Dajerria Becton
- Michael Jackson
- LeBron James
- Muhammad Ali
- Kanye West
- Robert De Niro
- Dylann Roof
- Elias Clayton
- Elmer Jackson
- Isaac McGhie
- Donald Graham
- Eric McNatt
- Pablo Picasso
- Jackson Pollock
- John Cage
- Nancy Spector
- Alfred Stieglitz
- Georgia O'Keeffe
- Peter Saville
- Cormac McCarthy
- Bob Dylan
- Miles Davis
- Aria Dean
- Ashley James
- Randy Kennedy
- Amy Taubin
- Patrick Cariou
- Prince (musician)
- Edvard Munch
- Umberto Eco
- Aby Warburg
- Paul McCartney
- Andrea Rossetti
- Matteo Zacchigna
- Marcel Duchamp
- Christoph Büchel
- Jannis Kounellis
- Felix González-Torres
- Alma Allen
Institutions
- Fondazione Prada
- Venice Biennale
- Ca' Corner della Regina
- Whitewall
- Gladstone Gallery
- Gavin Brown's Enterprise
- Smithsonian
- Hirshhorn Museum
- High Museum of Art
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
- Sprüth Magers
- Sadie Coles HQ
- Sant'Andrea de Scaphis
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Playboy
- New Yorker
- Prada Foundation
- Guggenheim New York
- The Art Newspaper
- Graphic Thought Facility
- Guggenheim Museum
- Artnet News
- Brooklyn Museum
- ATP DIARY
- Beatles
- Juliet Art Magazine
- Guggenheim
- Padiglione Statunitense
Locations
- Venice
- Italy
- Mississippi
- Appalachia
- Los Angeles
- New York
- Forney
- Texas
- McKinney
- Denmark
- Rome
- Ca' Corner della Regina
- Grand Canal
- United States
- Calle de Ca' Corner
- Santa Croce 2215
- Cà Corner della Regina
- Tupelo
- Panama Canal Zone