The context

Multiplayer is a multifunctional playing field conceived by Stefano Arienti, upon the request of a group of children and teenagers living in the council housing complex in Via Poma. It lies in a green area in the nearby Linear Park in Corso Tazzoli, which was part of the "Urban 2" Urban Regeneration Programme for Turin's Mirafiori North district. Multiplayer is among actions within the "DI Urban 2" Courtyard Project, aimed at giving the area a make-over. It began with the request coming from the young patrons for a usable protected space, open and accessible to all, where they could play without being a nuisance to other inhabitants of the district. As a structure, it is outside the usual standards for urban playgrounds, being equipped for many different games: football, basketball, volleyball, but also traditional games.

The commission

Multiplayer - the name was chosen by the patrons themselves taking their inspiration from the language of videogames - was conceived as an original place but at the same time one that would not be too noticeable. The artist designed a project that blends the natural with the artificial, the distant past with the future, the "high" and "low" of the building spectrum. The inner wall is covered with Verona marble and Prun stone, chosen for their colour and structure that mimic the stratigraphy of an excavation. The flooring was designed to blend in with the surrounding natural context and to contrast with the geometric shapes of the sports-ground. From here branch off the "roots" of some lianas, made of coloured rubber garden hosepipes. The same material was used to make the silhouettes of three dinosaurs that "walk" along the opposite side of the fencing.

Stefano Arienti

Stefano Arienti (Asola, Mantua, 1961), lives in Milan, where he graduated in Agricultural Sciences and he took part in his first group exhibition at the former Brown Boveri factory in 1985. He held a number of solo exhibitions in private galleries and public institutions, such as, recently, the MAMbo museum at Bologna (with Pietroiusti), 2008, the Museion at Bolzano (Bartolini), 2010, the MAXXI museum in Rome, 2005. He participated in the Istanbul and Venice biennials. In 2007 he presented the project The Asian Shore at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. On that occasion he edited the homonymous artist's book published by Charta, Milan. Ha taught at the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts at Bergamo and is now professor at the Department of Arts and Design on the IUAV University in Venice.