“Tin Cup”
I did a fairly quick proposal this week that I thought I’d share. The venue is Experimental Station, a “small business incubator” and event venue, non-profit, and it’s done in conjunction with an art/design collaborative called Material Exchange that’s really into, well, exchanging materials — sustainability, recycling and stuff like that. They received a large amount of Astroturf from a Martin Kippenberger installation at the Renaissance Society, and have put out a call to design putt-putt holes as part of a nine hole installation at their space on the south side of Chicago. Golf. Art. Proposals. Sounded right down my alley so here’s my shot at it. By the way, the super awesome proposal images are what I made after the first meeting of my new 3-D design class. I just made one model and rotated it for all of the images. I’m pretty pumped about this class. I thought it would take me all semester before I’d start being able to use this stuff to make proposals, which is why I took the class…
I don’t want to post the whole proposal, but the gist is a putt-putt hole that consists of a ramp leading up to a thin raised putting surface with 18 holes - the number of holes on a standard golf course - that spell “hole in 1” in Grade 1 Braille. Each of these holes connects to a long central conduit beneath the putting surface that carries the ball the length of the hole and drops it with a resonant “plink” into a tin cup. Special flashing LED lighted balls, popular for sneaking onto fancy golf courses to play at night (not that I would know personally, Scott… well, maybe just once…) are provided to play the hole.
Daniel wrote:
I love it. Incorporating Braille is a nice touch. BTW….did you use Google Sketchup for this?
Posted on 01-Feb-07 at 9:25 pm | Permalink
Rob wrote:
Cool sketches. Is this some sort of “everyone’s a winner” kind of thing? Hopefully if you can make it up the ramp you can get the ball in at least one of those holes.
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 9:32 am | Permalink
Dayton Castleman wrote:
Question 1: Yes. It is Sketchup. This will revolutionize my planning of work. From Sketchup we just move on to more awesome programs.
Question 2: Yes, it is an “everyone’s a winner” kind of thing. This is in contrast to a fellow student’s design that places the hole on the face of a quarterpipe, representing the “everyone’s a loser” camp. Also, theologically speaking, this should only be interpreted from within a Calvinist, non-universalist framework.
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 9:46 am | Permalink
Rob wrote:
Aww damn me and my semi-Armenian ways! I guess I’m removed from the experience. Just kiddin’.
I like the idea of contrasting the “loser” piece though.
Of course I do also like that you might be able to skateboard and play miniature golf at the same time. Although I do neither activity, I’d be up for trying them together.
Sketchup looks really cool. I need to make a reason to try it out.
If this proposal works out, you will be 3 for 3, right? I’ll be prayin’ for your Calvinist hide.
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 11:01 am | Permalink
Rob wrote:
Uhh…as you might have noticed, I incorrectly spelled Arminian which grossly changes the meaning of the sentence.
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 11:03 am | Permalink
Dayton Castleman wrote:
Sketchup is awesome, and free, free, free. It’s entry-level awesome, of course, but when you don’t know anything at all it’s great.
Yep. Going for number three… Lotta factors. Bigger pond, less “fancy”, nerdy U Chicago judgement probably… We’ll see. I might make it even if I don’t get the job. I like the idea a lot.
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 1:01 pm | Permalink
the fourth samba wrote:
No worries Day, you’re Mista proposal. You know that Ann Hamilton piece with braile in Italy, with the red powder coming down the walls?
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 7:23 pm | Permalink
Daniel wrote:
Sketchup is a bunch of fun. I’ve been tooling around with it for a bit now, creating a walk-through model of my house. My friend, Aaron, works for an architecture firm, and he uses it all of the time for concept and planning - then hops over to AutoCAD for the final deal. I can’t wait to see what you learn with the more advanced software. what programs will you be using?
Posted on 02-Feb-07 at 11:53 pm | Permalink
Dayton Castleman wrote:
Rubens: Don’t know the piece. Will check it out. Nice post, too! I didn’t even have to open up a tab with the Urban Dictionary… (much love!!!!!)
Daniel: We will also be learning (the basics of) Maya, Blender and Wings3D. It’s extra fun because we have a CNC machine in the closet that we can print to.
Posted on 03-Feb-07 at 9:50 am | Permalink
Your Bro wrote:
OK. I’m not an artist so I don’t know the rules about “suggestions” and things like that. And I’m not blind so I don’t know what the sight impaired are looking for in a putt-putt hole. However, I am a pastor so I am used to speaking my mind. And I am also a golfer (mini on occasion) with the lowest putt-putt score on record at “The Park” in Jackson (the elephant course, not the giraffe course), so I speak with some authority on the matter of “playability.”
Here it is: The best part about a hole-in-one is taking your ball out of the hole. Instead of a cup what if their was a lower tier with the objective “hole” in it? Same mechanism but you pluck your ball out of a tin cup that sits in the midst of more astro-turf- like an actual mini-golf hole. Particularly, if I just scored a 64 on the half-pipe hole I want to feel good about myself by retrieving my hole-in-one out a hole.
Or it could be that every hole is “the hole” in which case I just wasted about 5 minutes of my life.
So if I have transgressed against some kind of artist’s code of suggesting things then oops.
But for validity’s sake, I submit this as a blind person, well “sight impared” actually. Like my kindred soul in Bethsaida, who, when asked by The Eye Doctor, “Can you see anything?” responded, “I can see people, but they look like trees walking.”
Peace out homie!
Posted on 11-Feb-07 at 5:37 am | Permalink