New exhibition by Fondazione Prada offers new perspective on originality and imitation

Serial Classic exhibition at Fondazione Prada (by Cecily Liu)

A new exhibition in Milan known as 'Serial Classic' will offer a new perspective on the concepts of innovation and imitation in Greek and Roman sculptures.

To be opened from May 9 to August 24, the exhibition is hosted by Fondazione Prada, the foundation established by the Italian fashion brand to show works of art. The exhibition is designed by OMA, an architecture firm founded and led by the world-renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

'Serial Classic' is co-curated by Salvatore Settis and Anna Anguissola, focusing on classical sculpture and explores the ambivalent relationship between originality and imitation in Roman culture, and its relationship with the earlier Greek art.

Greek art has commonly been considered to be important as original works of art, championing values such as democracy, philosophy, history and politics, whilst Roman art tend to be associated more with the process of imitating Greek masterpieces as the Roman elites cherished Greek art.

Greek Classical art of the 4th and 5th centuries BC were usually considered to be supremely original, but the 'Serial Classic' exhibition challenges these views by showing that Greek artists have expressed in their works the collective values of their cities rather than their individual sense of inspiration, and that newly crafted works were occasionally duplicated and sometimes produced as a series.