Ryan Trecartin

Ryan Trecartin is recognised as one of the most inventive and exciting young artists working today, described by New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl as ‘the most consequential artist to have emerged since the 1980s’. Central to Trecartin’s practice is his collaboration with Lizzie Fitch, whom he met when they were first-year students of Rhode Island School of Design in 2001. The National Gallery of Victoria is proud to present the first major Australian exhibition of Trecartin’s work Re’Search Wait’S, 2009–10, as well as the newly acquired Fitch/Trecartin ‘sculptural theatre’ Available Sync, 2011.

Re’Search Wait’S comprises four movies: Ready, The Re’Search, Roamie View : History Enhancement and Temp Stop which together form an immersive and visceral essay on consumerism and identity, played out in a twisted milieu of excess and narcissism. These are movies of speed, neuroses, gossip, confessions, hysteria and exhibitionism; multi-linear narratives set within a complicated industry predicated on the power of metaphysically evolved market research, where the base commodities are personality traits. Characters are wrapped in knots as their every action is studied, the findings dictating the brands that pilot everything they do. The presentation of Available Sync marks the first time an Australian institution has acquired or displayed one of these unique environments.