The Island

Fondazione Prada presents The Island, a site-specific project by Hito Steyerl at Osservatorio in Milan, a venue dedicated to experimentation in visual languages and the relationship between technology and culture. The exhibition originates from a new film and unfolds as an installation composed of video, structures, and interviews, interweaving multiple narratives connected to the theme of flooding.

The work addresses current issues such as artificial intelligence, the climate crisis, and pressures on scientific research, using science fiction and quantum physics as critical and visual tools to imagine parallel realities and coexisting states. Its point of departure is a story by theorist Darko Suvin, who during a bombing imagined himself in the world of Flash Gordon, an example of science fiction’s capacity to generate alternative worlds even under extreme conditions.

The project is structured into four sections linking the Neolithic era, science, bioluminescence, and pop culture, combining scientific data and fiction. Immersive installations, 3D scans, and cinematic environments create an experience marked by space-time leaps. The Island places technological “junk time” in tension with deep non-human temporalities, proposing a critical reflection on how we perceive the present.