July 5th-8th, West Sussex
Doug Fishbone has created and curated his take on the seaside crazy golf phenomenon. In aid of ActionAid, he invited famous artists to dream up and create expressive installations or statues to grace each hole of this pay-as-you-putt conceptual festival first, the Adventureland Golf course (just £1 for the course).
“The artists were free to do whatever they wanted,” says Doug, “and their work will be politically and conceptually challenging in an unexpected way. Mini or crazy or adventure golf is usually a very conservative thing, so we are going to push the envelope quite a bit – if the artists raise issues that might not normally be seen on a golf course, I promote that 100%. No windmills or pirates here!”.
The artists have created for Nova Festival, a mix of slapstick and political conceptual pieces, all unique, all profits go to ActionAid’s reconstruction efforts in Haiti:
Jake & Dinos Chapman: a moving Hitler sculpture, who salutes and shouts at the players
David Shrigley: 12 amusing slogans, dotted around the site to egg you on as you play (see above)
Jonathan Allen: a boarded up library, looking at the darker side of the modern Britain (see above)
Ian Munroe: putt-for-your-pound, a play on the currency crisis engulfing the euro zone
Gary Webb: a builder bends over, aim for the crack. The cheekiest piece on the course!
Brian Griffith: a fully carpeted tropical island, playing off of traditional crazy golf designs
Zatorski and Zatorski: a minimal black marble heaven and hell. Putt the ball, it gets incinerated. Hopefully it goes to a better place…
Pete Fowler: a whacky monster figure designed to thrill and delight
Doug Fishbone: a tilting Saddam Hussein, concentrate as he topples over in front of your eyes
On his sculpture Doug says,
“I wanted to infuse the project with a political edge, and play with the conventions of the mini golf course a bit. Since Saddam tilts over, he works like a conventional obstacle designed to distract the putter by moving while he or she is taking aim. Using Saddam in such a leisure context brings to mind the idea of the Great Game, the imperial politicking in Central Asia in the 19th century, and imply that not only is it still going on, but it is still treated as a game in the West, with remote-controlled drones and people ignoring the greater human consequences. And it touches on the ludicrousness of monumental public sculpture, one day you are the boss, adorning the city square for all to admire, and the next you’re kicked over and flung on the scrapheap of history, only to be resurrected as a bit of ironic, hipster fun. Or forgotten altogether.”??
Fishbone (famous for filling Trafalgar Square with 30,000 bananas in 2004) supports ActionAid’s reconstruction efforts in Haiti As Fishbone notes, “Prepare to be amused and amazed.”
NOVA Festival of Music & Art
ActionAid
