A Political Anthology of the United States: The Great Exhibition of Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince in Venice

Fondazione Prada presents "Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince" at Cà Corner della Regina in Venice, the 15th exhibition produced by the foundation in the city. Curated by Nancy Spector of the Brooklyn Museum, the two-person show brings together over fifty works—photographs, videos, installations, sculptures, and paintings—that explore the fractured identity of the United States through the lens of race, masculinity, popular culture, and appropriation. Both artists, though separated by more than a decade in age, share a practice of scavenging and recontextualizing images from film, comics, advertising, and social media to critique American society.

This exhibition matters because it offers a politically charged counterpoint to the 61st Venice Biennale, explicitly addressing the legacy of slavery, Black cultural traditions, and the dark undercurrents of American life. By pairing Jafa’s focus on Black identity and cinema with Prince’s critique of white masculinity and pulp mythology, the show creates a powerful dialogue about the nation’s past, present, and likely future. It also underscores Fondazione Prada’s continued role in staging ambitious, conceptually rigorous exhibitions that engage with urgent social and political themes on the international art stage.