PlayLab, Metalwood and the original curator, Ken Buhler, would like to bring back Putt-Modernism with entirely new works of art from artists in the original exhibition, as well as new artists. The result: an interactive art exhibition of 18 holes, featuring 18 contemporary artists, along with a world of various materials and merchandise.

In 1992, Artist Space in New York opened Putt-Modernism—an interactive exhibition of a complete 18 holes of mini-golf, designed by contemporary artists and designers that included Frank Gehry, Cindy Sherman, Michael Graves and Jenny Holzer.

A relatively ad-hoc exhibition, many of the works were built on-site and in record time, as temporary and functional sculptures. It was wildly successful, traveling to multiple galleries over a 6 year span, but it was underfunded, and had to be built from scratch multiple times. To this day, the majority of the original works, or in depth records of them, do not survive.

When Putt Modernism launched in 1992, it was during a pivotal time in American history. The act of taking a symbol of American culture and engaging artists to comment on it in their own personal ways was timely, and poetic. More so than ever, that artful collaboration is needed. Putt Modernism is an idea with endless potential, especially in the hands of new artists, and deserves the opportunity to come back.

We propose that the show be curated in two parts: the front nine, featuring artists from the original roster, and the back nine, featuring new artists curated for the new exhibition.

The initial exhibition had a rawness to it—a purposely lo-fi quality of the era. We can follow these original intentions and create something that honors the DIY. We propose to take bits and pieces from the brand identity and refresh them to give it a new context, a new life.