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Miuccia: Reality TV’s Latest Fan
Prada unveils art film with “Bachelor”-type antics

Monday, March 29, 2004

Miuccia Prada doesn’t seem like the sort of gal who wastes away evenings on the couch with a beer and a bag of chips, taking in her evening dose of “The Bachelor.”** But wrapped up in a lovely, artistic package, the concept of reality TV has the Italian designer captivated.** Friday in Milan, the Fondazione Prada unveiled a “fake” reality TV program in their giant exhibit space in Via Fogazzaro, the latest work of art by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli.* Vezzoli had the genius idea of staging and filming a reality TV show that takes a “dating game” format, except that the contestants are famous actresses (who know that the whole show is a gag) while the audience and the suitors (unsuspecting Italian males with throbbing libidos) have no clue their antics will end up in a film at Fondazione Prada.* Vezzoli rounded up aging, iconic screen stars Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Marianne Faithfull, Antonella Lualdi and Terry Schiavo, to play along in his sociological experiment.* Filmed in Rome last month with Miuccia looking on backstage, the one-hour film provides a compelling and hilarious examination of sexual roles, gay prejudice and long-outdated seduction techniques.* It’s also ingeniously laced with every tacky stereotype found on Italian TV today:* an enormously breasted blond TV presenter in a formal gown and giant jewelry, a nearly naked ensemble of talentless dancers providing mid show entertainment, horrible screen designs, and a raging, narrow-minded audience that reflects Italy’s widespread provinciality.**
J.J. MARTIN