Chinese artist Cao Fei collaborates with Prada on a special project showcasing the brand’s Fall Winter 2019 menswear collection. Titled Code Human, the campaign starring Cai Xu Kun, explores the meaning of iconography, idolatry, fandom and adoration in super-media age.
Upon reflection, nobody is as crazy as Miuccia Prada to think of this pairing, asking a Chinese artist to photograph a Chinese ‘idol’. I was excited for many days afterwards I received the proposal, not only because of Cai Xu Kun, but about the project itself, to have this opportunity to plumb these cultural depths, using a real-life ‘idol’ to communicate with the tens of millions of followers behind him. As an artist, you cannot ignore those who stand behind him. How should I represent somebody else’s idol? – Cao Fei, Artist
Code Human is part of Prada’s innovative, cross-media campaigns and projects spanning the fields of design, architecture, cinema and art. Prada continues to collaborate with leading practitioners across all these creative spheres, exploring the intriguing intersection of different cultural disciplines and experiences.
