A Kind of Language

Fondazione Prada presents the exhibition A Kind of Language: Storyboards and Other Renderings for Cinema from January 30 to September 8, 2025 at the Osservatorio, located at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.

Osservatorio is Fondazione Prada’s outpost for visual experimentation and research on potential intersections and commonalities between technologies and cultural expressions. It is a free-thinking platform open to reflection on various artistic and media languages and their impact in an ever-changing cultural and social landscape.

Curated by Melissa Harris, the exhibition sheds light on the complex creative process behind filmmaking by exploring storyboards and other materials intrinsic to this process such as mood boards, drawings and sketches, scrapbooks and notebooks, annotated scripts, and photography. A Kind of Language comprises more than a thousand items created from 1930 to 2024 by over 50 authors among film directors, cinematographers, visual artists, graphic designers, animators, choreographers, and other collaborators on film and video production.

As explained by Melissa Harris, “For many, storyboarding is an integral part of the process: visually setting a scene and then plotting out its ebbs and flows may help the film team consider relationships between characters, figure out how to advance the narrative, or realize how to convey the essence of a particular segment. It may also help to troubleshoot, say when something does not seem quite convincing in a character or a physical interaction, or even provide visual references for the actors. More technically, storyboards can help the filmmaker to determine the most effective angles for lighting and shooting or the best use of dissolves and other potential special effects.”

Storyboards have a dual purpose as they embody the director’s creative vision as interpreted by the storyboard artist (when not the director), as well as addressing, at times,  the technical realization of the film. Storyboards may be considered a language on its own, complementing and elaborating on a concept or script. They represent one of the first visualizations of a director’s idea and vision before the film is actually shot, whether the director himself is the author of the storyboard or another artist is involved in its creation. They are a flexible and evolving tool for sharing a working outline that helps coordinate the activities of many professional figures on and off the set. These materials serve a pragmatic and communicative purpose in that they are meant to be circulated, copied, consulted, and modified and, thus, are rarely considered unique pieces. Storyboards play a crucial role in different stages of film production: from pre-production, where they help visualize the director’s thoughts, to production, where they guide the filming process, and even in post-production, where they assist in editing and special effects.

The set design of this exhibition, conceived by Andrea Faraguna of the Berlin-based architecture office Sub, takes inspiration from the storyboard, a cornerstone of cinematic creation and a physical tool for composing and communicating the filmmaking process. By focusing on its role in filmmaking, the exhibition reinterprets the working environment of storyboard artists, transforming it into a spatial experience. At the heart of the design are tables inspired by classic drafting desks. Each table is dedicated to a specific movie, presenting its visual narrative as a sequence of scenes visitors can explore up close. Each table is paired with an inverted counterpart suspended from the ceiling to enhance the spatial experience. Together, they form an optical funnel, creating a continuous 40 cm wide horizon line that leads visitors along the exhibition path. On the side facing the windows, this funnel frames striking views of the iconic dome of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, connecting the interior narrative to the historic architecture of Milan. In plan view, the tables are arranged to evoke the sequential nature of a film reel. This deliberate spatial organization creates a flowing, dynamic rhythm, guiding visitors through the exhibition as though moving through the frames of a film. This progression allows the audience to experience the storyboards not merely as static images but as integral elements of cinematic narration.

The second chapter of A Kind of Language: Storyboards and Other Renderings for Cinema will be held at Prada Rong Zhai in Shanghai from November 2025 to January 2026. The Milan exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated publication in the Quaderni series, published by Fondazione Prada. It includes a text by the exhibition curator, Melissa Harris, and a visual essay by Sub.