Somewhere between art…
…and miniature golf courses…
…is the Links Invitational at the Kirkland Arts Center, curated by Cable Griffith. Twelve artists turned the galleries into 9 holes of playable golf, with courses running down the stairs, across a table top and through a passel of sturdy constructions.
Putt through the stove top into the sink, rattle through the pipes to land on the ground. If you’re going to get a hole in one, this is it. Ben Hirschkoff & Jason Wood, 7 Ways to Enjoy Washing the Dishes
As Robert Morris liked to say, simplicity of shape does not equate to simplicity of experience. Jason Hirata, When I was in sixth grade, I designed a golf course for school
Hirata, detail:
Drive low under cliches to rise through the hole: Kristen Ramirez, How Green Was My Valley
Tee off at the top of the stairs, bank left and free fall home: SuttonBeresCuller, Pigeonholed
Through Thursday.
As an artist, I always resent these stupid theme shows.
Only one step removed from those plastic cows that “artists” decorate for charity, or the inane competitions on workof FAart on TV.
Mini Golf, in particular, is a recurring curatorial copout.
It keeps cropping up, for well over 30 years now. First one I remember was in NYC, in the 70’s, but there were probably some before that.
There was an Artists Mini Golf show at Bumbershoot some ten years or more ago,
and only last year there was Smash Putt-
http://www.hazardfactory.org/?p=73
mini golf at the Walker- in 2004, and again in 2008-
http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=1072
http://www.psfk.com/2008/06/highbrow-mini-golf-and-different-approaches-to-public-art.html
in ohio-
http://www.columbusalive.com/live/content/features/stories/2010/03/18/ca_ar_scape_artists-mini-golf.html
Jersey City-
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/06/post_99.html
Salt Lake City-
http://www.slartcenter.org/pageview.aspx?id=9215
At least when the artists make centerpieces for the benefit auction, you get a few free hors deouvres. What do you get at a mini golf show- A Bucket of Balls?
Why is it only visual artists get subjected to these idiotic themes, these “fun ideas”?
How come famous poets arent asked to all write poems about
Cupcakes for an anthology? Everybody likes Cupcakes, right?
Choreographers arent all asked to reinterpret the drive thru window experience at McDonalds.
Composers arent told that they must write a piece about Snowboarding.
Good art does not come at the request of a curator to fit into a “fun” category that everyone can relate to.
Sure, once in a while some of these show produce interesting, or at least amusing, shadows of what the artist could really do if left unmolested.
But by and large, they are an example of intellectual lazyness on the part of exhibiting spaces and curators, and pandering to the lowest common denominator.
Now, I gotta go, and make my piece for the upcoming show about Tube Socks…
Come on, Ries, it’s a summer show and nobody twisted anyone’s arm to participate. I thought the Seattle Times calling it conceptual was a bit of a stretch. Whatever. I’m sure they’re doing the best they can at the city’s only surviving daily newspaper. Anyone using the word conceptual should be forced to put a dollar in a jelly jar. Money raised will go to for the education of English teachers.
We have Hit the JACC (Juneau Arts & Culture Center) Putt during the schools’ winter break. It brings out some fairly creative “sculptures” and provides the community with a very pleasant family outing (what to do over the holidays with grandparents, college kids, parents, and the younger ones? Mini golf!) that also serves as a fundraiser for our facility. It also brings people into the building who might otherwise avoid an “arts center” or “gallery”.
Thanks for the links to the other mini-golf sites. Will share with our hole makers for this season. (The theme this year is Board Games, and coincidentally, the Alaska State Museum across the street will be having an exhibit of Alaskan-themed board games!)
http://www.artnegro.com
http://www.artnegro.com
http://www.artnegro.com
http://www.artnegro.com
http://www.artnegro.com
I thought the Seattle Times calling it conceptual was a bit of a stretch. Whatever. I’m sure they’re doing the best they can as the city’s only surviving daily newspaper.