This past weekend fashion powerhouse Prada collaborated with infamous contemporary artist Damien Hirst and Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, the chair of the Qatar Museums Authority, to unveil a unique project in the desert in Qatar. Titled “Prada Oasis and Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy Juice Bar,” the installation marked the launch of Relics, a major retrospective of Hirst’s work.
The 20 Hirst-accessorized ‘Entomolgy’ bags are classically Prada in design, but are marked by Hirst in whimsy.
Based on his Pharmacy (1992) installation, the artist reimagined his original restaurant as a juice bar in a tent in the middle of the Doha desert. Adjacent to the juice bar is the Prada Oasis, in a bayaat shaar, or sheep hair tent. Unlike Michael Elmgreen and and Ingar Dragset’s 2005 installation in Marfa, Texas—which was a commentary on Western materialism, rather than a collaborative and commercial endeavor with Prada—‘Oasis’ stocks Prada items that are available to purchase; specifically for sale is a range of 20 Hirst-accessorized‘Entomolgy’ bags, which are classically Prada in design, but are marked by Hirst in whimsy.
Relics, the retrospective, featured all of the major moments in Hirst’s career, from The Physical Impossiblity of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991) to his jaw-dropping diamond skull, For The Love of God (2007).
Proceeds from the Prada x Hirst collaboration will go to a charity stewarded by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, chair of the Qatar Museums Authority.
Relics runs until January 22, 2014.
