Friendly Wall v003

The Sneaks Summer Classic is an annual community basketball tournament at the La Jolla Rec Center. To complement the high level of basketball, Friendly Futures designed a participatory art activation, where everyone who came to the event would have the opportunity to connect with San Diego basketball culture, even if they don’t run fast enough or jump high enough to play in the tournament 🙂

The artwork serves as the heart of the event, functionally and visually connecting hoopers and viewers by bringing them to the same physical space. Brightly colored, sloping walls, and gentle apertures, complemented by a playful mural by Mckenzie Knapp, weave together layers of functional possibilities. The space hosts the tournament bracket for every player to take a portrait commemorating the day with their loved ones, offers mini hoops for kids (and some adults!) to shoot a basketball, displays merch from local vendors, and features a community mural for people to express their favorite parts of San Diego basketball culture. All ages found joy in the artwork, and, most importantly, in a true spirit of co-creation, the artwork wasn’t finished until the end of the event, as it required the community to contribute to its completed state.