A Mini-Golf Hole So Real It's Unreal

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "City of Dreams Mini-Golf," a nine-hole mini-golf course and participatory installation was installed on Manhattan's Governors Island on June 27 as one of several projects of FIGMENT 2008, a free, non-profit, volunteer-planned public participatory art event that takes place on the island every year.

Each of the mini-golf holes was conceived, constructed and installed by a different artist or group of artists selected through a competitive process and each design was a variation on the theme "City of Dreams." The results are most unusual, entertaining, visually complex and arresting.

One of the winning artists is Joyce Hwang, assistant professor of architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.

Her design, "Intensified Reflections," employs luminous reflections, colors and different surface types to create a unique visual experience for the mini-golf participant.

"It's one in which the game, the construct and the site are seen through a series of mirrored surfaces," she says. "The idea of the project was to reflect 'reality' to such an extent that the reflections actually create a distortion of reality."

The project was developed and fabricated primarily in the UB School of Architecture and Planning Material and Methods Shop, and involved the collaborative effort of five undergraduate students: Dave Nardozzi of Grand Island, John Scherer of Port Allegany, Pa., Mike Pudlewski of Amherst, Nicole Marple of East Amherst, and Laura Schmitz of Buffalo.

FIGMENT 2008 was made possible by support from New York City's Arts Action League, The Pure Project, and the Black Rock Arts Foundation. The golf course will be open to the public until Sept. 5 and is free of charge.

Hwang is a resident of Buffalo.