Image: Courtesy Chloe Collyer/Seattle Art Museum
Tee times just got a whole lot more highbrow. Last week, Mini Golf at Olympic Sculpture Park launched as a dual attraction: a locally-crafted interactive art display and a full nine-hole mini golf course with Puget Sound views.
These playable holes weave throughout the sprawling Seattle Art Museum park, pairing with the resident art that should be enjoyed without touching, like Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, new this spring. The course starts with a nod to the past, repurposing metal letters from past Olympic Sculpture Park signage into obstacles on a small, red-rimmed green. Just beyond, a giant bear sculpture eats well-aimed balls and an intricate challenge pays homage to Seattle’s beloved bridges.
In the summer of the World Cup, the museum’s months-long “Summer of Play” initiative centers sports. At SAM, cleats from the Mariners’ starting lineup star in a new exhibit and World Cup-related merch features local artists.
The course, though, is decidedly hands-on. The nine installations were designed to have golf balls ricochet off their sides, take a little summer rain, and endure large groups walking in and around them.
Image: Courtesy Chloe Collyer/Seattle Art Museum
“You are essentially playing with an art piece,” says Devin DeGagne, the museum’s partnerships and communications associate. “You’re interacting with art a lot more directly than people have before.” Organizers hope that the unusual interaction with art pieces will be a bridge for visitors. A whimsical game is a less intimidating entry point to local art than a typical gallery experience and players will connect with local artists in fresh ways.
The summer’s gameplay isn’t a fully new idea: Back in 2021, the museum installed a mini golf course for a fundraiser, but its residency only lasted a week. This time, they tapped nine local artists—Julie Alpert, Andy Arkley, Zack Bent, Elizabeth Gahan, LMN Architects, Cathy McClure, Chris McMullen, Kalina Wińska, Anthony White—to design and build interactive holes that will live for two months.
Holes range wildly in theme, from a pinball machine to a sculpture representing the ice that shaped the Northwest landscape. Every hole, DeGagne says, evokes “each individual artist’s style and approaches in really unique ways.” Many found inspiration in local nature; one is a nod suburban girlhood with a psychedelic dreamscape of bright painted panels.
The fairway officially opened June 17 and will rent golf clubs Wednesday through Sunday, but the park remains open to the public and visitors can view the installations during the park’s usual hours. The onsite cafe and refreshment station will expand its hours and summer offerings, like Seattle dogs and gelato. The course closes September 7.
