Melbourne's premier winter arts festival, RISING, is set to bring the best from around the world and across Australia into the city's hidden spaces and reimagined landmarks.
From June 4-15, music, art, and performance will light up Naarm.
This week the festival unveiled a major new creative commission in Swingers : The Art of Mini Golf – a mind-bending, playable art exhibition that will transform the Flinders Street Station Ballroom and labyrinthine upper level into a surreal, holey new world.
Opening on the first day of RISING and running for an extended season until August 31, artists will transform nine holes of mini-golf into a joyful hands-on art experience.
First Nations artist Kaylene Whiskey is among Swingers' creators and will tee up a vibrant fusion of pop culture and Anangu traditions.
Whiskey is an acclaimed artist known for her vibrant and playful paintings that celebrate contemporary pop culture and Indigenous storytelling.
Born in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Whiskey started working at her local art centre after finishing school, making paintings that incorporated representations of local flora and fauna, as well as traditional bush foods.
Over time she developed her unique approach to painting, with depictions of pop culture references sitting alongside elements from traditional Anangu culture.
The talented artist uses figures such as Dolly Parton and Tina Turner as well as characters like Wonder Woman in a celebration of heroic women and the sisterhood.
"I wanted young girls to see my art and see themselves, strong and proud kungkas, looking good and feeling happy," Whiskey said.
RISING Senior Curator Grace Herbert drew on mini-golf's radical femme roots to select some of the most adventurous artists working in Australia and internationally to take part in the project.
"The history of mini golf is surprisingly subversive and sits at the heart of this project. It's been incredible to see how each artist has taken this on. Alongside playing mini-golf and experiencing the artworks, you might have your fortune told, travel to desert country, become a human-animal hybrid, or even find yourself singing along to Dolly Parton," she said.
RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek said the selection of artists is all part of what makes this experience so unique.
"RISING is about creating collective experiences and Swingers continues that tradition. Bringing such unique artistic minds into the creation of a 9-hole course is a literal game changer. I can't wait to see audiences step up and take their shot," the pair said in a joint statement.
The original mini golf game was dreamed up by 19th-century Scottish women who were banned from the 'real' golf courses but refused to sit on the sidelines. Over the centuries, the humble sport continued to be a game for rule breakers, fuelling a putt putt craze in prohibition-era Los Angeles, with rooftop courses and roadside attractions embracing whimsical, obstacle-filled designs, to later becoming one of the first desegregated public spaces in the USA by the 1940s.
This is the third time RISING has radically transformed the Flinders Street Ballroom anew following an almost four-decade period of the space being left dormant. This interactive transformation offers just a taste of what's to hit Melbourne this winter with the full RISING program set to be announced in March.
Swingers - The Art of Mini Golf is supported by Metro Trains Melbourne and Verve Super.
RISING is supported by the Victorian Government, through Creative Victoria and Visit Victoria.
For more fashion, arts, culture and lifestyle news subscribe for free to the Style Up newsletter.
