Simon Fujiwara's 'Who the Baer' Exhibition at Fondazione Prada Explores Identity Construction

Simon Fujiwara's exhibition 'Who the Baer' at Fondazione Prada in Milan presents a cartoon bear character invented during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. The show, running from 29 April to 27 September 2021, features mixed-media collages, kinetic sculptures, and moving image works housed within a cardboard maze architecture tracing the bear's silhouette. These artworks explore dream-reality confusion and identity as constructed choices rather than inherent truths. Themes addressed include gender, sexuality, race, and historical identity through works like 'Who's in the Mirror?' with pronoun decorations, 'Adam Who?' and 'Eve Who?' with gendered fashion collages, and 'Skolstreijk for Who?' referencing climate activism. References appear to Elon Musk and Grimes's gender-neutral parenting, Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' (1907–08), Shepard Fairey's Barack Obama image, and ancient monuments like Easter Island heads and Egyptian mummies. The exhibition structure mimics a 'choose your own adventure' narrative with survey-style tick boxes and marketing slogans, examining how identity forms through branding, algorithms, and mediated existence. The physical installation is noted as fully recyclable. The character Who reflects influences from Disney, Fischli/Weiss's bear costumes from the 1980s, and Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle' (1967), questioning whether image construction represents constraint or liberation.