Koo Jeong A Reveals Glow-In-The-Dark Skatepark At Triennale Milano

South Korean artist Koo Jeon A has built a glow-in-the-dark skatepark open to the public and specifically designed for the Galleria on the ground floor of La Triennale di Milano. OooOoO is the first episode of the Triennale’s Year of Play, a series of interactive projects and events conceived by British curator, Dame Julia Peyton-Jones.

Koo Jeong A has been working on the reinvention of the gallery spaces through experiential and participatory site-specific installations since the 1990s; her most recent projects include the skatepark series, the first of which, OTRO, was created in 2012 in collaboration with L’Escault Architectures and built on the island of Vassivière in France. 

OooOoO by Koo Jeong A invites visitors to explore the space both physically and perceptually while challenging the relational dynamics between subject and object, individual and community. 

The Skatepark at the Triennale Milano will be animated with the music of Koreless, an electronic music producer based in Glasgow. A short passage of his music will repeatedly alternate with the lighting of the Skatepark, which is coated in glow-in-the-dark fluorescent paint. The sound will interact with the installation, involving the public in an immersive and multi-sensory experience. 

The skate culture will be presented in a Public Programme, curated by Lorenza Baroncelli, which is seen through the lens of different disciplines and topics, such as photography, fashion, cinema, graphic design, architecture and urbanism, independent publishing, music and sport. The programme includes educational activities, such as the Triennale Milano Academy of Skateboarding featuring bastard for children, teenagers, families, and schools.

A series of four videos, directed by Diana “Spaghetto” Manfredi, and a selection of photographs by André Lucat will reveal the Milanese skateboarders and their community. By following the skaters while they are skateboarding, Milano Tribe maps the city making a portrait of the skating community celebrating urban space as a playground and as a place of encounter. 

The second project in the series in the Year of Play will be a Playground that will be unveiled in the Triennale’s Garden in 2020. In Autumn 2020 there will be an exhibition called Play With Me! curated by Julia Peyton-Jones with Lorenza Baroncelli and Emma Enderby of work by contemporary artists whose practice engages with play. This will coincide with a display of objects from the Triennale’s collection over the last 50 years. 

So, the Triennale Skatepark is an irresistible call to play seriously and to take ‘playfully seriously’ the words of the great Sardinian artist Maria Lai: “Games are the art of children; Art is the game of artists”.