Koo Jeong A

Born in 1967 in Seoul, Korea. Lives and works everywhere.

Since the early 1990s, Koo Jeong A (they/them) has incorporated objects, still and moving images, audio and aromas in remarkable works and sites-specific environments that conjure alternative realities. Questioning the limits of fact and fiction, Koo Jeong A’s practice is concerned with human cognition, the senses and energies between places and people and the interaction with natural elements and cosmic constellations, in which order and disorder, perception and practicality oscillate.

Despite its apparent simplicity, Koo Jeong A’s work is precise and considered, addressing sensory experiences, such as at the Korean Pavillion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, for which the artist created a scent portrait of Korea; and in their playful and participatory glow-in-the-dark skate parks, which the artist has created in institutions across the world.

Koo Jeong A has had solo exhibitions and presentations in institutions such as Luma, Arles; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Moderna Museet, Stokcholm; Beyeler Foundation, Basel; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkin, Lisbon; Aspen Art Musuem; among others.

Koo Jeong A’s work has been exhibited at various iterations of the Venice Biennale, the Gwangju Biennale, la Triennale di Milano, the Yokohama International Triennial of Contemporary Art, the Biennale of Sydney, among others. They have been artist-in-residence at institutions such as Dia Foundation, New York; CCA, Kitakyushu; agnès b, Paris; Villa Medici, Rome.

Koo Jeong A’s work is featured in collections such as Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Tate, London; among others. The artist has been recognised with awards such as the Villa Medici Award and the Hermes Korea Prize for Contemporary Art and were a finalist for the Guggenheim Museum’s Hugo Boss Award.