Putt-Putt Green Design Competition
From March 29th to April 2nd, support the Experimental Station (501-c-3) and Material Exchange (501-c-3) by playing a round of mini-golf! During that week the Experimental Station hosts the First Annual Putt-Putt Green Design Competition, organized and curated by Material Exchange.
Over the past several months, area artists, industrial designers, engineers, school groups, and families submitted Rube Goldbergesque putting green designs, employing a range of circuitous and inefficient means to get the ball into the hole, out of which ten were selected. Read on for details of Putt-Putt events and hours.
Each of the green designers was given a piece of Astroturf salvaged from German artist Martin Kippenberger's The Happy End of Franz Kafka's America, an exhibition held at the Renaissance Society in 2000. Adding to the design challenge was the requirement that each hole be constructed from reclaimed materials and that the finished product have a built-in future use. Second lives for the holes include a skateboard ramp and bike panniers to name just two. Images of the selected projects are available at puttputthogpot.blogspot.com.
Playful and beautiful in design, the holes will most certainly make for a fun and challenging round of mini-golf. For the price of $5.00 (children under eight play free) the public is invited to play the course Thursday, March 29th through Monday, April 2nd at the Experimental Station (6100 S. Dorchester Ave). Golf playing will be complemented by the distinct music/poetry/performance of local artist Theaster Gates and the DJing entertainment of Rachel Herman; other live musical acts TBD throughout the course of the event. Carnival-style concessions will be available, with proceeds going to Material Exchange and the Experimental Station.
Material Exchange is also planning a "masters" tournament for more competitive golfers, which will take place on Sunday, April 1st at 3:00. A sign-up sheet for the tournament will be available at the "clubhouse".
DATES AND TIMES:
March 29th – April 2nd 2007
Putt-Putt Hours:
Thursday, March 29th 6-9pm
Friday, March 30th 4-10pm
Saturday, March 31st 2-10pm
Sunday, April 1st 2-8pm (Tournament at 3pm, Awards at 6pm)
Monday, April 2nd 2-8pm
The Green Designers:
Evan Fulford
Rod Northcutt
Michael Dinges
Greg Gabrellis
Matthew Hebert
Monica Herrera and Heather Mullins
The Puppet Posse
Matthew Dupont
Steven Carelli
Dayton Castleman
About Material Exchange:
Material Exchange, a group of Chicago artists and designers, engages issues surrounding waste and surplus through collaborative art and design projects that strive to meet specific needs using cast-off materials. Past projects have included a design class at the Illinois Institute of Technology in which students made furniture and a play loft for the Childcare Society in Hyde Park out of material salvaged from the set of August Wilson's play, Fences, performed at the Court Theatre; Culture Walk, an installation at the former Hyde Park Art Center, constructed from defunct art projects and outdated publicity materials; and a collaborative installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art called Biographical Extensions I, which constructed cubes/plant containers out of MCA waste materials. Material Exchange is taking part in the upcoming DIY exhibit at the A + D Gallery at Columbia College in March and will be collaborating with the Feel Tank project at Gallery 400, UIC in May and June.
Material Exchange is Sara Black, Charles Mcghee-Hassrick, John Preus, and David Wolf.
You can read more about Material Exchange at the following sites:
http://www.material-exchange.org
http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/exh_detail.php?id=100
http://materialexchange.blogspot.com/
http://urbanwoodsproject.blogspot.com/
Email us at info@material-exchange.org
Photos available upon request