KOO JEONG A

KOO JEONG A directs our gaze to the incidental, to the marginal zones of experience that are first noticed after patient observation. Invisible phenomena can be experienced through sounds, smells, and minimal gestures. The invented and found, concrete and intangible slide into one another devoid of fixed boundaries. At the same time, KOO JEONG A’s work is characterized by extraordinary restraint. Just a few, precisely arranged elements are enough to generate a presence. In this respect, Kunsthaus Bregenz becomes an ideal sounding board. Its size and expansiveness allow the scarcely visible, the subtle, the just barely perceptible to come into its own.

For the ground floor of Kunsthaus Bregenz, KOO JEONG A is developing a floor object, a fragment of a skatepark taken out of context, its phosphorescent surface glowing in the dark. The sculpture extends as a sweeping curve that reorders the exhibition area. In dialogue with Peter Zumthor’s architecture, a space emerges that allows the material, light, and movement to be experienced aesthetically and poetically. As with the artist’s earlier skateparks–in connection with the Biennale in Venice in 2024, the Triennale in Milan in 2019, as well as exhibitions in Arles, Liverpool, São Paulo, and Seoul–KOO JEONG A’s use of the track’s curve takes the form of a Möbius strip at Kunsthaus Bregenz too. Here it appears as a sculpture developed specifically for the site, precisely formulated, and integrated into the spatial atmosphere.

A significant subject for KOO JEONG A is the exploration of phenomena that are located at or beyond the threshold of human perception. Displayed on one of the upper floors are wall objects that, composed of magnets, are affixed to the walls via swivel mounts. They float like powerful, metal paravents in front of the corners of the room, making us aware that there are forces at work that remain invisible to the naked eye.

Another floor is dedicated to scent. In 2024, KOO JEONG A developed a perfume with the Korean fragrance label NONFICTION for ODORAMA CITIES in the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Now, a space for olfactory perception is also opening up in Bregenz, for the invisible, for that which can only be perceived by the senses.

Shown on the top floor is a film, surrounded by a multitude of greenish fluorescent stars, luminescent emblems of the cosmos, hinting at vastness and infinity.

KOO JEONG A’s installations aren’t stages or narratives; instead, they create atmospheres of permeability, spaces of energetic shifts and refined phenomena. The works come alive not through meaning or interpretation but through presence, coherence, and hidden albeit clearly perceptible energy.

KOO JEONG A (b. 1967, Seoul) lives and works “everywhere.” In 2024 they represented South Korea at the 60th Venice Biennale. Their most significant exhibitions include OooOoO at the Malmö Konsthall and Dance with Demons at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, both in 2024, [YONG DONG] at Pilar Corrias in London in 2022, KOO JEONG A at the Galerie Eva Presenhuber in New York and It’s Urgent! at LUMA Arles, both in 2020, OooOoO at the Milan Triennial in 2019, and 16:07 at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 2012. In 2025–2026 their exhibition LAND OF OUSSS [KANGSE] is on view at LUMA Arles, and the installation HAUS DER MAGNET at Haus der Kunst in Munich.