The “Prada Oasis and Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy Juice Bar”, a collaborative project between Damien Hirst, Miuccia Prada and Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), was launched to mark “Relics”, a major retrospective of the British artist's work held in QMA (ALRIWAQ DOHA, 10 October 2013 - 22 January 2014).
The “Prada Oasis and Damien Hirst s Pharmacy Juice Bar” took place on Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 October 2013 in the desert, to the north of Doha, Qatar.
“Damien Hirst's Pharmacy Juice Bar” is a reinterpretation of his famous “Pharmacy Restaurant,” designed by the artist in London in 1998. The installation within the desert draws upon the traditions of a Bedouin tent, reinterpreting it in the style of a modern day pharmacy. Two human skeletons hang either side of the bar area which is a large lightbox with repeated pill print. The tent fabric has been printed with a pharmaceutical pattern, both on the interior and exterior. Bean bags are printed with medical imagery. The tent exterior, as well as having the pharmaceutical print fabric, has a large neon sign in the style of the four coloured carboys, with the “Pharmacy Juice Bar” logo.
The “Prada Oasis” represents a perfect Prada store in the desert, built inside a bayat shaar, a traditional tent made of sheep hair. The interior features a display of “Entomology”, a limited-production range of bags co-designed by Miuccia Prada and Damien Hirst. The “Entomology” bag is made in a limited production of twenty pieces, the bag is a clear Plexiglas shell in which were assembled various wonders of the insect world selected by Hirst. The exterior is embellished with embroidered insects simulating the real ones inside, and each bag is named after a different species.
The “Entomology” bag is an absurdist object that invokes “entomophobia”, the fear of insects. It playfully poses the question, “How much are you prepared to bypass your anxiety for the sake of a bag?”
In case you're wondring, the “Entomology” bags have been sold through a silent auction over two days at the “Prada Oasis and Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy Juice Bar” (9 and 10 October 2013). Proceeds from
the sale of the “Entomology” bags will be donated to ROTA, Reach Out to Asia, a nonprofit organisation headed by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani.
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