prada pilgrimage

destination: denmark/italy/germany

purpose of journey: venice biennale & documenta

never travel without: a data plan that covers all of your destinations

favorite outfit you packed: it was my first time in italy so i just packed a suitcase full of prada, which one can mix and match at will

how many pairs of shoes: literally 2 (sandals & boots)

what are you listening to: raffaella carra, vivaldi, kraftwerk, & kelela

favorite meal: every single thing in italy... cuttlefish polenta, fried zucchini blossoms, spaghetti with caviar, burrata and anchovies, little 1€ sandwiches, salt cod, vegan paninis (i could really just list every single thing we ate)

highlight of the trip: unknowingly booking a place on hotel tonight that turned out to be an elderly italian’s couples retreat/thermal spa...not a single person in the place spoke english, the rose-pink dining room was playing enigma during the dinner buffet, and the only channel on the tv was testimonials from couples who got their sex lives back after the mud baths.

i had an 8-hour layover in copenhagen, and my main priority was riding the rutschebanen in tivoli gardens. it’s one of the oldest continually operating roller coasters in the world (since 1914!) a guy stands in the middle of each train and manually operates the brakes

glam shopping at a truck stop in padova

a vaporetto lady in prada s/s 11 with a damien hirst sculpture

a still from one of mark bradford’s pieces in the american pavilion at the biennale. the first black artist to represent america in venice, he piled gravel in front of the pavilion’s neoclassical portico to redirect guests through the service entrance. this show was a standout amongst the generally disappointing biennale.

grindr was insane in italy. so many hotties!

we made our pilgrimage to prada’s montenapoleone flagship in milan

a corridor in the gallaratese housing projects outside of milan. everywhere we went had incredible mid-century and contemporary housing blocks, which was really disheartening when you think about their counterparts in new york and across america.

in milan we went to spazio, a restaurant on the top floor of the galleria where chefs from a cooking school alternate between the kitchen and dining room, explaining their dishes at each course.

this year’s documenta exhibition was themed “learning from athens”. works throughout touched on themes like the genesis of democracy, how we record history, and contemporary economic and immigration crises. here is greek artist chryssa’s piece from 1990 “chicago chinatown”

central park has nothing on kassel’s bergpark wilhelmshöhe, constructed over 150 years starting in the 17th century. landscaped like an english garden, it takes about 3 hours to wind through paths past fake roman ruins and reach the hercules monument at the top of the mountain. try and visit the first weekend of the month when they light the whole thing up with a laser show.

it felt wrong to be in berlin as a tourist; i definitely want to go back with more time and some work to do. this is a cute table in our friend’s studio in pankow. he pays 200€ a month for a giant space, and till lindemann from rammstein is his landlord.

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