Exhibitions

Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince

Venice, Italy

Two titans of American appropriation collide in a Venetian palazzo, unmasking the grit, myths, and chaos of the United States.

Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince
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Meet the artist

Arthur Jafa, Richard Prince

ArtLovers Tip

Look for the small, collaboratively conceived zine; it contains the private visual exchange between the two artists and serves as the conceptual skeleton of the entire show.

Exhibition Highlights - What you’ll see

Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince share an ethos of lawlessness, scavenging the debris of American culture—from pulp novels to YouTube clips—to build something entirely new. In this curated dialogue by Nancy Spector, their paths cross for the first time, exposing the raw nerves of race, masculinity, and the American dream. The exhibition moves beyond mere theft, using the Duchampian readymade to interrogate who owns an image and what those images reveal about a country's soul.

You're watching the sun set in Prince's grainy photographs while Jafa's visceral film Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death pulses nearby. The grandeur of the Ca’ Corner della Regina contrasts with the industrial weight of Jafa's Big Wheel II and the battered remains of Prince's Folk Songs. Between the frescoes and the lagoon air, you feel the friction between Venetian history and the jagged, unapologetic reality of the American vernacular.

Worth the trip

  • Unprecedented Dialogue: This marks the first time these two heavyweights of contemporary art have been paired in a dedicated, large-scale conversation.
  • Venetian Context: Seeing Jafa’s explorations of Black cinema and Prince’s critiques of white masculinity inside a 17th-century palazzo offers a startling visual and conceptual contrast.
  • New Works: The exhibition debuts Viriconium (2026), a multipart sculpture by Jafa, alongside collaborative materials created specifically for this show.

How to experience it

Start on the ground floor to feel the physical scale of the automotive installations before ascending to the first floor's thematic rooms. Let the rhythmic editing of Jafa’s SloPEX slow your heart rate, then step out onto the Grand Canal. Walk toward the Rialto as the sun dips low, allowing the chaotic energy of the Helter Skelter to settle against the ancient, quiet stone of Venice.

See it here

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