Inaugurated yesterday in Piacenza a new spectacular playground of artist: a complex and original work in design and execution, commissioned by Municipality of Piacenza as part of a broad and integrated project to combat youth hardship.
To sign “The pyramid of life” – this is the name chosen by the author – the painter and urban artist Antonio Cotecchiaaka Koté, who, involving children aged between 10 and 18, painted 52 colorful figures on a total surface of approximately 370 m2.
The description of the work. In “The Pyramid of Life” the bodies of boys and girls are depicted, elongated figures of Futurist and Picasso inspiration, typical of the artist’s murals and paintings, intertwining of arms and legs that climb in a mirror-like manner in the two halves of the field ; from the centre, robust hands grasp those of a companion, a human architecture is slowly formed which, defying gravity, achieves a single great objective: crushing the ball into the basket.
Kotéon his first interpretation of a playground, commented:
“I thought a lot about how to approach the field. I didn’t want to limit myself to a purely decorative intervention, but it was very important for me to express a strong message. Every boy or girl who climbs onto another’s back represents a step upwards and overcoming one’s limits. To achieve a common goal, in sport, as in life, it is necessary to know each other, understand each other, trust, going beyond appearances and prejudices, leaving aside the anger that we often feel when young, transforming it into a human endeavor.”
Urban redevelopment and street art. Koté’s artistic work is part of a large and integrated project to combat youth hardship called #ontheroad, promoted by various sectors of the Municipality of Piacenza, including Youth Policies and Sport, Social and Educational Services and the Emilia Region -Romagna.
The artist’s playground completes the redevelopment works of the “campaccio”, a multi-purpose concrete field located within a green area in via Negri which, over the years, had suffered a progressive decline and consequent abandonment.
In order to create an open basketball court measuring 14.75m x 25m, the external parapets around the perimeter of the plate were removed, the concrete flooring was rebuilt and the baskets were installed. Mapei acrylic resins in water dispersion were used for painting. The field, thus transformed and redeveloped, will be made available – as well as to all citizens – to young visitors to the gardens, in activities both free and coordinated by sports clubs, “street academies” and street educational agencies active in the area and involved in the project #ontheroad.
“It is a great joy to be here today, in the gardens of via Negri – underlined the mayor Katia Tarasconi – to celebrate the inauguration of an extraordinary work of art created by Antonio Cotecchia, an artist whose vision and creativity have transformed this space into something truly special. So thanks to Koté, but with him I want to thank the kids in the neighborhood who dedicated their time, energy and passion to this project. This work is not only an artistic expression, but also a symbol of the vitality of our youth and a testimony to the beauty that comes from collaboration and mutual help.
The initiative is part of the municipal project #ontheroad – supported by the Emilia-Romagna Region, to which my heartfelt thanks go – whose aim is to promote, in urban spaces, a better quality of life.”
Antonio Cotecchia, aka Koté, is a painter and urban artist of Salerno origins who currently lives between Milan and Piacenza. After graduating from the Salerno art high school, at 18 he moved to Milan where he attended the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in painting with the Sicilian master Saverio Terruso.
The passion for music and the digital world contaminate his pictorial language which presents clear references of cubist, futurist, expressionist and pop origins. Since 2018 you have been creating murals in collaboration with schools, public administrations and private cultural promotion bodies.
Among these: “Futura” in Aielli, in the province of L’Aquila, and “Parolana” in Salerno as part of the EU Street Art initiative of the Italian Representation of the European Commission (2024), the work “Clessidra” for the Piacenza Foundation and Vigevano in the complex of the former convent of Santa Chiara (2022), three murals in Porretta Terme commissioned by the Porretta Soul Festival, which celebrate some of the legends of international soul music, such as Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett (2021, 2023).
Photocredits: Giulia Gandolfi Photographers
