Helter Skelter
The catalogue for Helter Skelter, Fondazione Prada's two-person exhibition setting the American artists Arthur Jafa (b. 1960) and Richard Prince (b. 1949) in dialogue at its Venice venue, Ca' Corner della Regina (9 May – 23 November 2026).
Edited by Nancy Spector with an introduction by Miuccia Prada, it gathers visual essays by both artists, a Jafa–Prince conversation, and Spector's curatorial essay The American Vernacular: Unpolished Truths, alongside commissioned texts by Aria Dean, Ashley James, and Amy Taubin and nine short essays on contemporary American culture by writers including Greil Marcus, Jack Halberstam, Dorian Lynskey, and Beth Coleman, plus plates and the exhibition checklist. The graphic concept is by Peter Saville with design by Graphic Thought Facility the Venice and Ca' Corner della Regina photographs are by Jöel Tettamanti. The title borrows the Beatles song long entangled with American myths of apocalyptic violence.
Jafa, a cinematographer (Daughters of the Dust) turned artist, won the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale and is known for Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death (2016). Prince, a foundational appropriation artist from Untitled (Cowboy) to the Nurse paintings and New Portraits, is already held in depth in the library's collection. A black-and-white reader reprint, Helter Skelter (Dispensa) (Fondazione Prada, 2026), accompanies this catalogue.
