Miu Miu Brought its ‘Tales and Tellers’ Exhibition to New York City

Last Friday night, Miu Miu staged an impressive scene inside Chelsea’s Terminal Warehouse. New York City’s creative set turned out for the occasion, celebrating with a dinner to kick off the installation. Guests included Alexa Chung, Ella Emhoff, Jeffrey Deitch, Cazzie David, Lynn Yaeger, Paloma Elsesser, Sarah Paulson, Pauline Chalamet, and the brand’s own breakout runway model, Cortisa Star.

KiKi Layne, Pauline Chalamet and Cazzie David at the dinner.

Upon entering, everyone’s eyes took a moment to adjust inside the barely-lit venue before taking in the expansive scene before them. Guests were immediately met by a cacophony of noise and flashing lights, setting the tone for the experience in front of the first station, a secretary-like desk that played host to the character “Jean.”

The exhibition—conceived by multi-disciplinary artist Goshka Macuga and curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose, the director of MACBA Contemporary Art Museum in Barcelona—was originally performed in Paris in October 2024 and is part of the artist’s ongoing collaboration with the brand. Macuga previously linked up with Miu Miu for its spring 2025 runway collection, creating a video installation and newspaper, titled “Truthless Times,” spotlighting the power of misinformation across mediums.

“Jean,” in a spring 2022 look, performing scenes from House Comes With a Bird by American writer and director Janicza Bravo.

Alongside the runway show, Miu Miu also asked Macuga to help transport its commissioned film series, “Women’s Tales,” off the silver screen. “When I watched the movies, I thought that there was so much there, but it would be quite boring to just show the videos, because you would then passively experience the narrative,” Macuga tells ELLE. “I thought that it was much more interesting to extract the characters and make them come to life, and have this individual woman become part of a community and set.”

Purposefully fragmented in format, but meticulously choreographed, each station, whether it was performed by a stand up comic or a manic pixie dream girl in a vibrant fur coat, animated the characters on the screens behind them—hence the concept of a teller and their tales. While we watched an actress lament over not being able to memorize her lines, a downtown It girl whizzed past on her skateboard. As a witch performed her transcendence ritual, her humming was overpowered a singer’s hypnotic ballad.

“The Host” in a fall 2017 ensemble, based on (The [End) of History Illusion) by New York-based filmmaker Celia Rowlson-Hall.

“In Paris, we had 105 performers who worked over the course of five days,” says Macuga. In comparison, New York’s cast numbered 80, but in a much smaller space with only 48 hours to prepare. Even while Macuga speaks, the choreographer, Fabio Cherstich, diligently tracks the models with his eyes. When forming initial ideas, the duo wanted to evoke the feeling of being chased through the installation. “We started with a very precise conversation about the meaning of what she was doing, the possibilities of what we were doing together, and how to develop it in a space,” Cherstich tells ELLE. “As a theater and opera director, I can bring something that is a concept into something that is an expression—an exchange between bodies with a specific energy using the music, the sound, and the light.”

The overstimulation and interconnection between each of these experiences perfectly encapsulates the complexity of everyday life. For Miu Miu, the project is an impressive culmination of the brand’s dedication to platforming women’s stories in the arts.