London’s Battersea Arts Centre is about to become a miniature course in contemporary art.
The Art of Mini Golf opens there on June 17 and runs through July 26, bringing nine interactive golf-hole artworks into a public setting that blurs the line between exhibition and game. The project includes work by Turner Prize nominee Delaine Le Bas, U.S. filmmaker Miranda July, and Japanese artist Saeborg, among others, with an additional hole created for the UK presentation by British artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995), who is based in Berlin.
Brathwaite-Shirley’s contribution, “Enough is Enough,” is described as using humor to surface the anxieties and mixed emotions participants may feel about what they stand to gain or lose in a “brave new world.” The artist drew wider attention last year with an exhibition at the Serpentine in London.
Other holes lean into similarly off-kilter forms of play. Le Bas’s “Square peg, round hole, NO!” asks players to use a square ball, while Saeborg’s “Animal Golf” replaces the traditional putter with a strap-on latex animal tail. The result is less a novelty course than a set of sculptural prompts, each one turning a familiar pastime into a small test of perception, balance, and social expectation.
The UK version of the project is organized by the Rising festival in Melbourne, underscoring how easily the format travels: part installation, part performance, part public invitation. In a season crowded with immersive experiences, The Art of Mini Golf stands out for making participation the point rather than the accessory.
