Global Antiquity

Fondazione Prada presents Global Antiquity, a research exhibition curated by Salvatore Settis, Anna Anguissola, and Chiara Ballestrazzi and designed by Rem Koolhaas and AMO/OMA, in its Milan venue from November 5, 2026 to March 1, 2027 (press preview: Wednesday, November 4). Global Antiquity offers an unprecedented perspective on the interactions between the cultures of the Mediterranean and those of Asia over a broad timespan, from approximately 700 BC to 1000 AD.

The exhibition is part of a wider investigation undertaken by Fondazione Prada since 2015, when it simultaneously presented “Serial Classic” and “Portable Classic” in its Milan and Venice spaces, two exhibitions curated by Salvatore Settis (with Anna Anguissola in Milan, and Davide Gasparotto in Venice). The research continued in 2022 in Milan with “Recycling Beauty” (curated by Salvatore Settis and Anna Anguissola with Denise La Monica), a project dedicated to the reuse of Greek and Roman antiquities in post-antique contexts, from the Middle Ages to the Baroque era.

The underlying premise of this comprehensive survey is the desire to think of ancient art not simply as a legacy of the past, but also as a vital element with the power to affect our present and future. Such themes as seriality, reuse, recycling, and globality are closely linked to our conception of modernity, but they also attest to the extraordinary persistence of certain values, categories, and models of the past. Through an innovative curatorial approach and experimental exhibition formats developed by Rem Koolhaas and AMO/OMA, ancient heritage becomes, in Salvatore Settis’ words, “a key that provides access to the multiplicity of cultures in the contemporary world.”

Through an accurate selection of over 150 artworks and artifacts, Global Antiquity offers a unique perspective on the artistic, cultural, commercial, and political ties that, over 1,700 years of history, connected peoples and cultures from the Mediterranean to Asia, across continents and seas. Each of the objects on display, coming from different parts of the world, becomes a narrative element that attests to meaningful connections between two or more geographic regions and societies, often far apart from each other. From this perspective, where an artifact is found is just as important as where it was originally produced. Connecting these points on a world map reveals a multitude of trade routes and political, cultural, economic, and religious ties that extend far beyond the so-called Silk and Spice Roads. The ancient world emerges as a dense and dynamic web of exchange extending across continents.

Global Antiquity highlights the close and reciprocal nature of these connections that did not simply develop along linear one-way pathways but formed a fluid and constantly evolving polygonal network. By showcasing unexpected “Mediterranean” presences in China, or displaying a female statuette of Indian manufacture that arrived in Pompeii before the AD 79 eruption, the exhibition creates a space-time short circuit, prompting us to rethink our view of history and reflect on the present from a long-term perspective.

Two of the project’s underlying themes resonate powerfully in contemporary public debate: the concept of globality—a commonplace and a controversial topic in today’s political and economic discourse—and the complex phenomenon of cultural hybridization. On the one hand, Global Antiquity reminds us that, in the words of the writer Amitav Ghosh, “it is impossible to imagine a world without global connections. They have always existed, and no place has escaped their formative influence.” In particular, the exhibition explores the dialectical relationship between the concepts of globality and globalization. As the exhibition reveals, the concept of “globality” is more closely related to the ancient world and follows horizontal, osmotic, and reciprocal dynamics, whereas “globalization” refers to a modern or contemporary system defined by vertical processes driven by economic and political forces operating on a global scale. On the other hand, the intensity and multiplicity of the cultural exchanges analyzed in “Global Antiquity” provide a solid foundation for challenging today’s dominant identity-based rhetoric and protectionist and isolationist dynamics, based on the idea that every cultural and ethnic group constitutes a self-contained fortress, besieged by “others,” and therefore to be defended at all costs.