Inside Alex Prager’s Showstopping Pop-Up in Miami
At Miami Art Week, the artist and filmmaker's pop-up installation, Mirage Factory—created with Capital One and The Cultivist—burst onto Lincoln Road like a Technicolor dream
Just when you think Miami Art Week couldn’t possibly fit another spectacle into its sun-soaked landscape, the artist and filmmaker Alex Prager arrived this year with a showstopper. Her pop-up installation, Mirage Factory—created with Capital One and The Cultivist—burst onto Lincoln Road like a Technicolor dream, pulling visitors into the haze, humor, and hypnotic glamour of Los Angeles. It became one of the week’s most talked-about experiences, and for good reason: Prager transformed her cinematic universe into a fully realized, interactive world that brought her latest work to life.
Long admired for her meticulously staged photographs and films, Prager is no stranger to building elaborate tableaus. She seems to almost think in three dimensions, transporting viewers into scenes like crowds on Pelican Beach and glitzy parties of Beverly Hills. In her first feature-length film starring Elizabeth Banks—captured in Galerie’s intimate look inside her Los Angeles studio—Prager took a step further into world-building, masterfully translating her vision onto the screen.
But with Mirage Factory, guests didn’t simply observe Prager’s art; they inhabited it.
“I’ve always wanted to bring one of my entire worlds into a space,” the artist said as we entered Mirage Factory. The journey began in a dreamlike orange grove—a memory of Southern California that feels lovingly preserved and eerily impossible all at once. The air is thick with nostalgia, yet the scene carries the unmistakable theatricality that defines Prager’s work.
From there, Mirage Factory unfurled like a film playing in real time. Visitors wandered into a twilight vision of Los Angeles—its dusky magic hour beautifully recreated through exquisite miniatures and a soundscape inspired by the city. The detailed models shimmered with affection and uncanny precision, capturing the good and the bad of LA: iconic buildings like Hollywood Pantages Theatre and reminders of the lived experiences of a city accustomed to fires, droughts, and earthquakes.
“I had just gone through the recent fires. I wanted to make something about what the city means to us now, reflecting on where it’s going and where it’s been,” Prager said. “Underneath all the madness and corruption, there’s always that feeling of what if. That, to me, is Los Angeles. There’s always a side door, and anyone can get in if they dream big enough.”
The final room of Mirage Factory held a chromatic and cinematic surprise. A chic dining room at night and a pool-side lounge area during the day, the room was drenched in green and culminated in a dramatic view of Griffith Observatory. Surreal touches, like a pool revealing only a pair of sultry legs with ruby-red slippers, reminded viewers that Prager’s universe is equal parts elegance and absurdity.
For Art Week, Mirage Factory was open to the public during the day and activated through a series of exclusive Capital One events at night, including dinners with Michelin-starred chef Dave Beran and performances by Ellie Goulding and the legendary singer and actress Diana Ross. Most spectacularly, special guests witnessed Prager’s latest photograph, Beverly Palms Hotel (2025), come to life in a performance with actors playing characters from the work, as if entering the world of her photograph.
This world-building ability is one of the reasons Capital One and the international arts club the Cultivist invited Prager to be part of their annual Miami Art Week collaboration. “There’s something uncanny about Alex’s work that makes you want to go deeper, as if there are details and connections waiting to be discovered,” said Marlies Verhoeven, co-founder and CEO of the Cultivist. “Alex is so passionate and thinks through every detail to make sure it feels authentic—she spent 30 minutes placing a Spiderman figure—but that’s best part about working with artists: their passion.” Mirage Factory marks the third collaboration between the club and Capital One, following Los Angeles artist Alex Israel in 2023 and Moroccan photographer Hassan Hajjaj in 2024.
Working with the Cultivist and Capital One, Prager attests that the process wasn’t that dissimilar to working with a museum or gallery. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, and branding is of course part of the conversation, but the whole process amazing,” she said. “There was never any pushback, the only thing different was getting approvals for things, which is normal for a corporation.”
In the context of Prager’s career, Mirage Factory feels both inevitable and electrifying. Amid Art Week’s energetic chaos, Prager offered a rare kind of transportive magic—a chance to step inside the machinery of the dream factory itself and emerge blinking, dazzled, and craving more. And with an upcoming show at Lehmann Maupin in New York and a soon-to-be-announced museum exhibition, visitors might not have to wait too long.