Curated by Mia Locks, “Miranda July: New Society” is the first solo museum exhibition dedicated to Miranda July’s work. Spanning three decades, from the early 1990’s until today, the exhibition includes early short films, performance, and multimedia installations. The exhibition debuts F.A.M.I.L.Y (Falling Apart Meanwhile I Love You), a multi-channel video installation July made in collaboration with seven strangers via Instagram. The exhibition uses F.A.M.I.L.Y as a jumping off point to consider related ideas in earlier performative and collaborative works.

The first floor of the Osservatorio presents documentation from July’s earliest performances in punk clubs to major performance pieces, such as Love Diamond (1998), The Swan Tool (2000), Things We Don’t Understand and Definitely Are Not Going to Talk About (2006), and New Society (2015), alongside related props, costumes and archival documents.

The second level presents F.A.M.I.L.Y, as well as two other collaborative projects — I’m the President, Baby (2018) and Services (2020). There will also be a reprisal of Learning to Love You More (2000-2009), a web-based project made in collaboration with Harrell Fletcher that included 70 assignments completed by the public and uploaded online. Assignment #43 (“Make an exhibition of the art in your parents’ home”) will appear as part of the exhibition, completed by a local Milanese woman specifically for the exhibition.

“Miranda July: New Society” is accompanied by the first complete retrospective of July’s filmography, which will take place at Fondazione Prada’s Cinema Godard concurrently with the show. The program includes three feature films, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), The Future (2011), and Kajillionaire (2020), and will be complemented by a selection of her short films and previously unreleased works.