In London, play mini golf designed by Miranda July and Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Mini golf, a playful yet serious pursuit, is a lesson in world-building, a challenge which nine artists in London haven’t been able to resist.

In Battersea, Miranda July, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Delaine Le Bas, Kaylene Whiskey, Saeborg, Natasha Tontey, BKTHERULA, Soda Jerk and Pat Brassington have created interactive golf artworks. The immersive works are a reaction to mini golf’s history, after it was created in the nineteenth century by Scottish women who were excluded from ‘real’ golf courses but refused to sit on the sidelines.

This subversive spirit runs throughout, in the holes which incorporate everything from surreal video to fairground games and fortune-telling.

‘I am a big advocate for mediums that invite artists to push beyond the scope of their regular creative practices, and those that ask audiences to engage with artworks differently, and so in general I think that durational or interactive projects are really interesting,’ says curator Grace Herbert.

‘Whilst digging into the history of mini golf, I was thinking about how there are so many things in our contemporary life that we don’t think about the origins of, that we take for granted, or even infantilise a little bit like mini golf, that have these incredibly rich and even rebellious histories. From here, the idea of a mini-golf and art exhibition by women and non-binary artists whose creative practices think about identity, feminism and politics in various ways emerged.’

Herbert was keen to include artists working across mediums and backgrounds in her curation, resulting in a game here interpreted by an eclectic community which includes musicians, filmmakers, performers, sculptors, activists, athletes, and quantum physicists. The results are fully immersive – these are games you want to play.

‘The brief to artists was to come up with a concept that could be integrated with the design and gameplay, rather than say making objects that would be plonked on a course as obstacles,’ Herbert adds.

’And they all really did that. Delaine Le Bas, for example, was talking about her experience as part of the Romani-Sinti community living in the UK and often feeling a square-peg in a round hole – and so we ended up 3D printing square golf balls for her work.’

The Art of Mini Golf, from RISING Melbourne and Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), is on until 26 July 2026 Battersea Arts Centre