Weekday unveils a one-of-a-kind art installation developed by the creative collective jtf × ĒTER. The relationship between art and streetwear is still alive, and is talking about identity and intimacy
Words TOMMASO FALOCI
The relationship between streetwear and contemporary art is deeply rooted in shared ideals, where both fields frequently transcend conventional limits and aim to redefine boundaries.
These realms, with their emphasis on individual expression and rebellious undertones, converge to form a dynamic platform for cultural experimentation. When artists collaborate with streetwear brands, these partnerships evolve beyond the commercial, functioning instead as cultural vehicles. Such collaborations are spaces for reimagining identity, intimacy, and the complex interplay between the public and the private. And this is our case.
An exemplary project of this nature is the MEATRACK—a unique, site-specific installation that is at once a piece of furniture, a topographical landscape, and a provocative space of sensory engagement. Hosted as a one-night-only event in Paris on October 17th, this project emerged from the creative synergy between the streetwear brand Weekday and the art collective JTF × ĒTER.
The MEATRACK invites people into a shared experience, transforming an isolated environment into one that fosters tactile connection, vulnerability, and mutual awareness. Crafted from a single, continuous loop of denim, the suspended structure beckons participants to enter, nestling into its bays, thereby revealing perspectives that are both unsettling and profound. Here, the notion of intimacy is expanded into a carefully constructed, but overtly public encounter.
Alice Shulman, Design Lead for Co-labs & Special Projects at Weekday, articulates the brand’s vision: “We believe in working with bold, inspiring creatives across fields, with art being a natural extension of this exploration. In the case of JTF and ĒTER, we’ve long admired their approach to rethinking physical spaces, connectivity, and their capacity to distill complex concepts into powerful aesthetics. For us, this collaboration bridges contrasts—combining hard and soft, challenging yet reassuring. It’s a dialogue that allows opposites to coexist.”
James Taylor Foster, a core voice of the JTF × ĒTER collective, describes the MEATRACK as a “suspended, swinging intimacy engine”—a performative structure that comes to life only through collective presence. The twelve bays of the MEATRACK provide spaces where individual bodies become part of a larger, interconnected system. Each movement reverberates through the structure, as the actions of one participant influence the physical experience of another. The installation challenges participants to explore shared intimacies, confronting the tension between visibility and vulnerability. Placed in such an openly exposed setting, participants may find themselves lying down, reaching through zippered openings, or otherwise engaging with strangers in ways that invite them to feel both comforted and displaced.
As Foster observes, public space thrives on communal encounters and on feeling safe within the unfamiliar; the MEATRACK illuminates the subtle and transformative process of coming together, revealing the collective desire that exists within the human experience. In a world where isolation often prevails, the MEATRACK stands as a testament to the need for connection and the often-uncomfortable beauty of interdependence.
