The Nike Decade trainer is such a rarity in the world of sneaker currency that one of the few coveted pairs in existence is being offered on Ebay for $6,660 US. For the uninitiated, the Decade was an inexpensive line brought out by Nike in the mid 1990’s in an unassuming black and white colour-way. It was discontinued in 1997 when 39 members of the Heavens Gate cult based in San Diego, took their own lives en masse having donned identical pairs of the shoe as part of their preparations to escape earth in the tail of the Hale Bopp comet under the guidance of their leaders Marshall Applewaite and Bonnie Nettles. Nike’s slogan at the time was ‘Just do It’. Away Team is a collaboration between Wong & Trenerry that was commissioned by Cement Fondu as part of Wong’s solo installation Lone Wolf in 2022. In this work, frequent collaborators Trenerry and Wong explore the themes of ‘currency’ and ‘grails’ in terms of spirituality, wellness, altered states and cultural esoterica in the context of countercultural movements from the 1970s to the present day. Special thanks to 3D artists Christina Yang & Yang Hu. Min Wong is represented by Hugo Michell Gallery Adelaide. Brie Trenerry is represented by MARS Gallery Melbourne.
Brie Trenerry Min Wong