Alex Prager Reveals Los Angeles' Surreal Hollywood Dreamscape in "Mirage Factory" at Art Basel Miami

This week in Miami, the allure of classic Hollywood was reinvented as acclaimed visual artist, filmmaker, and writer Alex Prager debuted her immersive installation, Mirage Factory, at Art Basel 2025. The exhibition, presented by Capital One and The Cultivist, officially opened on Wednesday, December 3.

Mirage Factory invites visitors into an ethereal, dreamlike interpretation of Los Angeles, blending nostalgia, illusion, and cinematic spectacle. The work continues Pragers exploration of the boundary between reality and performance, using Los Angelesa city she describes as willed into existence by human engineeringas a central motif.

Attendees navigated intricately designed sets inspired by three key eras in LAs history. The installation reimagines the citys dream machinery, offering surreal glimpses of Hollywood Boulevard and an artificial orange grove. Through her meticulously staged scenes, Prager highlights what she calls the beautiful confusion of contemporary life, employing classic filmmaking techniques to challenge viewers perceptions and encourage reflection beneath the surface glamour.

The December 3 premiere featured a curated tour of the installation followed by an intimate performance by 13-time Grammy-nominated singer Diana Ross, who performed a selection of her greatest hits. Complementing the visual and musical spectacle, award-winning chef Dave Beran created a multi-course dinner influenced by West Coast flavors, designed to harmonize with Pragers Golden Age Hollywood dreamscape.

The event drew an impressive lineup from the worlds of art, film, and fashion, including Alex Prager, Diana Ross, Evan Ross, designer Es Devlin, curators Franklin Sirmans and Casper Jopling, and artists Sam Falls and Tavares Strachan.

Based in Los Angeles, Prager is renowned for her precisely staged, Technicolor photography that blends the aesthetics of film noir and classic Hollywood. Her images often function as cinematic stills, balancing vibrancy with unsettling tension between reality and fiction, as seen in works like her acclaimed Crowd series. Expanding her vision into filmmaking, she has directed several visually rich short films and is recognized for the Emmy-winning series Touch of Evil (2011), featuring a star-studded cast including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Jessica Chastain.

Mirage Factory remains open throughout Art Week, giving the public a chance to experience Pragers intricately constructed world in Miami.

Author: Zoe Harrison