Surrounding Frieze in Los Angeles, we’re seeing a fully packed week of events and celebrations. Here, Whitewall gives you an inside look at some of the happenings going on in the city around the much-awaited return of the fair.
Prada Mode Los Angeles, photo by Getty Images, courtesy of Prada.
On Wednesday at Genghis Cohen, Prada presented the seventh iteration of its social club, Prada Mode. Open on February 16 and 17 only, the maison conceived for the pop-upan experience complete with art, music, dining, and conversation, transforming the interiors of the iconic venue and restaurant with Martine Syms’s interactive installation HelLA World. Including aspects of text, video, live performance, narrative exposition, and casual conversation, the work took the form of an installation of screens projecting text around the space, which invited guests to contribute through exchanges made by phone. The first evening of the members-only club saw attendees like Milla Jovovich, Jeff Goldblum, Ella Balinska, Storm Reid, and Jordan Wolfson enjoying private dinner, the talk “LA, Cinema and Contemporary Art”—with Syms and names like Diamond Stingily and Daisy Zhou—and a live performance from Junglepussy, followed by DJ sets from names like Bae Bae, Damar Davis, and Harriet Brown.
Verdi’s “Tree of Life,” courtesy of Verdi.
Then, we headed to the architect Dan Brunn’s Bridge House, where the Colombian textile maison Verdi debuted an installation of its sustainable Tree of Life with a private cocktail party. Guests like Marielle Hadid, Marc Ange, Adair Curtis, Cesar Giraldo, Erika Santos, Jared Eng, and Mirtha Michelle joined the house’s creative director Tomas Vera for a preview of the mesmerizing installation, which was accompanied by a custom rug inspired by the Colombian snake, La Coral. The elegant evening was complete with cocktails by Casa Dragones and dancing to a set by DJ Dana Boulos.
Courtesy of Bonhams.
Also that evening, Bonhams hosted a celebratory dinner honoring Micah Johnson, surrounding the artist and former MLB player’s recent NFT drop on Nifty Gateway. The night began with cocktails at the auction house’s Sunset Boulevard salesroom, where attendees were invited for a special look at Johnson’s “Aku” series (inspired by his young nephew, an aspiring Black astronaut) and a preview of the final video, which is due to drop on February 21. Transporting partygoers to outer space with whimsical décor, mini figurines of Johnson’s protagonist Aku, and blue moon cocktails, the evening culminated with a picturesque dinner on the rooftop.
Photo by Linnea Stephan, courtesy of Ruinart.
And yesterday at Bar Restaurant, Ruinart celebrated the start of Frieze in a special event that combined art and gastronomy, part of the champagne house’s Food For Art concept. Available for the public by reservation through February 27, the experience encompasses an installation of the artist David Horvitz’s interactive “Give Us Back Our Stars,” activated by a three-course dinner, which has been curated by Chef Douglas Rankin. For the opening occasion, guests like Mia Moretti, JiaJia Fei, Zoe Buckman, Darius Williams, Olivia Lopez, and Mark Indelicato came together to enjoy a candle-lit meal—focused on eats inspired by the constellations Cancer, Gemini, and Pisces, which saw the sumptuous seafood dishes accompanied by pairings of Ruinart champagne. The night included a performance by the vocalist Carmina Escobar, who also looked to the stars to inform her act.
