Ringing Miranda July

I dial 833-526-8880, and a woman on the other end answers: “Hi.” The speaker is none other than Miranda July. The artist, writer, actor, and filmmaker’s voice asks me how I’m doing. “I’m doing great,” I tell her. In a fever-dream-like sequence, July informs someone in the background that she is on the phone with her dad. She tells me how she’s rushing around too much, how she’s constantly on the go. She asks me if she’s told me about how her bag at the airport was too heavy. She had to pay extra for it. Her humidifier cord is missing. Then someone tells her that she’s “about to go on.” She says “bye,” and takes off. 

‍

The phone number, sourced from atop a billboard from Prada’s new Fall/Winter 2024 campaign, presents each caller, like myself, with the opportunity to engage with a pre-programmed script written and recorded by July herself. Each conversation varies based upon the caller’s prompts. Depending on how you interact, July’s scripted voice can offer conversation, advice, or an unexpected storyline. 

In major cities across the world, actors are captured in conversation and emblazoned across such Prada signage on the sides of buildings, inviting those down below to “Call The Miranda July Hotline Now.” Pairs of familiar faces––including Hunter Schafer, Damson Idris, and Yili Ma––are photographed by Willy Vanderperre mid-phone call, wearing the fashion house’s new collection and posing against contrasting, neutral backdrops. 

‍

In one photo, Harris Dickinson and Letitia Wright are on the phone, separated by light blue and white backgrounds. Dickinson dons a black trench coat with gold buttons that is both formal and playful. Wright wears a white dress with large bows and a brown fur scarf draped casually around her neck. What they are discussing is anyone’s guess. The campaign, titled Now That We Are Here, is an interactive collaboration with July that follows her first solo museum show at Fondazione Prada in Milan this past spring, which spanned her three-decade long multidisciplinary practice. 

‍

A couple hours after I dialed in, I’m still thinking about my conversation with July. Prada’s latest collaboration is truly an immersive experience. Just as that intriguing conversation lingers, so does the collection behind it. Curious? Call the number and hear from July yourself.

‍

Now That We Are Here was launched on July 18, and is being shown on billboards in New York, London, Los Angeles, Milan, and Bangkok.

‍