Alex Prager's "Mirage Factory" Hollywood Dreamscape at Miami Art Week

The glamour of Golden Age Hollywood was dramatically reimagined in Miami this week as acclaimed artist, director and screenwriter Alex Prager unveiled her immersive, cinematic installation, “Mirage Factory,” during Miami Art Week 2025. Presented by Capital One and The Cultivist, the surreal experience officially launched on Wednesday, December 3.

“Mirage Factory” transports attendees into a dreamlike world of nostalgia, illusion and Hollywood artifice. The installation extends Prager’s decades-long fascination with the tension between the staged and the real, using the city of Los Angeles — which she refers to as a metropolis “willed into existence by human engineering” — as her primary subject.

Guests moved through vivid, meticulously crafted sets that draw inspiration from three pivotal developments in LA’s history. The environment transforms the city’s “dream machinery” into something more intimate and uncanny, featuring striking scenes like the glow of an ever-changing Hollywood Boulevard and an artificial orange grove. Prager captures what she calls the “beautiful confusion” of modern life, using traditional filmmaking techniques to create images that challenge perception and invite viewers to look beneath the glossy surface of modern existence.

The premiere evening December 3 was a spectacular affair. Following a guided tour through the installation, guests were treated to an intimate performance by 13-time Grammy-nominated singer Diana Ross, who ran through an album’s worth of her greatest hits including classics like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

The artistic experience was perfectly complemented by a multi-course dinner curated and prepared by award-winning chef Dave Beran. Bringing his signature West Coast influence to Miami, Beran’s menu was crafted to seamlessly complement Prager’s Golden Age of Hollywood dreamscape.

The celebration drew a constellation of notable figures from the worlds of art, film, and fashion, including Alex Prager herself, Diana Ross, Evan Ross, designer Es Devlin, art world figures like Franklin Sirmans and Casper Jopling, as well as artists Sam Falls and Tavares Strachan.

Based in Los Angeles, Prager is an acclaimed photographer and director whose signature style involves meticulously staged, Technicolor images. Drawing heavily on the aesthetics of film noir and classic Hollywood, her photographs function as dramatic cinematic stills. Prager specializes in crafting scenes that are both vibrant and unsettling, creating a compelling tension between constructed reality and fictional narrative within her work, including her well-known “Crowd” series.

Extending her photographic vision into film, Prager has directed several visually striking short films, often collaborating with high-profile talent. Her film Despair (2010) starred Bryce Dallas Howard. She is perhaps most recognized for her Emmy-winning series Touch of Evil (2011) for The New York Times Magazine, which featured an impressive ensemble of actors including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Rooney Mara, Viola Davis, Gary Oldman, Kirsten Dunst and Glenn Close.

“Mirage Factory” remains open until December 5, offering the public a chance to step into Prager’s manufactured world.

Scroll down to view images from the installation and the opening-night party.

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee

Alex Prager

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee

Alex Prager

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee

Alex Prager

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee

Alex Prager “Mirage Factory” Installation

Image Credit: Daniel Seung Lee