The Top Floor of the Brand’s Aoyama Store Will Host the Artist Duo’s Latest Immersive Multimedia Project
Prada Aoyama in Tokyo is set to host a new exhibition from the American artistic duo Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin, titled It Waives Back. Supported by Fondazione Prada, the exhibition will run from October 24, 2024, through January 13, 2025, marking Fitch and Trecartin’s first solo show in Japan and their Asian debut.
The exhibition, featuring both films and sculptures, builds upon their expansive project Whether Line, which began in 2016. Initially commissioned by Fondazione Prada and launched in Milan in 2019, Whether Line was a large-scale multimedia installation that spanned multiple buildings. It introduced audiences to an intricately constructed set in rural Ohio, complete with a lazy river, a watchtower, and a hobby-barn commissary. The Ohio site forms the setting for the project, with Fitch and Trecartin exploring themes of territory and self-development through their unique lens.
“Our project in Ohio is intended to be a ‘life project,’ providing space for experimentation and collaboration,” said the artists. “Our goal is to allow the purpose of the space to evolve and grow. We are interested in nurturing and cultivating the site and its features in the same way that we have been nurturing and cultivating its plants. We envision the project as a dynamic environment that expands and changes over time in a kind of call-and-response with our larger network of collaborators.”
For It Waives Back, Fitch and Trecartin have revisited the wealth of footage from Whether Line, a process they’ve used in previous projects to explore “version-hood”—a concept of coexisting truths. As characters and narratives shift within location-based settings, It Waives Back further develops this idea by presenting characters in multiple states, both physically and figuratively. Drawing inspiration from gaming environments, the exhibition challenges the limitations and potential of game-like social structures.
The installation at Prada Aoyama includes a sculptural theater made of a wooden structure and a darkened greenhouse, creating a space where boundaries blur between viewer and participant. The two films will be projected on opposite sides of a single wall, offering various perspectives on the experience of observation. In Title Waive, time is a core element, with footage spanning from 2017 to 2024, showcasing an evolving cast of characters and settings. Meanwhile, Waives Back (Whether Line) uses animation and live-action to emphasize the importance of place over plot.
A striking sound design element ties the exhibition together, featuring music composed by Trecartin and recorded in Aspen. The soundscape highlights the duo’s innovative approach to integrating music within their art. Complementing the films, a series of sculptures will also be on display, drawing on social sci-fi themes and resembling mascots from a theme park. Larger works, inspired by tombstones and public landmarks, serve as symbolic “subtitles” to the films, often with humor and irony.
Fitch and Trecartin, who have been collaborating since their days at the Rhode Island School of Design, have showcased their work in major art institutions globally, including the Venice Biennale, MoMA PS1, and Fondazione Prada. Known for their immersive installations and non-linear narratives, the duo’s art continues to push the boundaries of digital and physical storytelling.
