In a unique collision of recreation and art, the Elmhurst Art Museum joins forces with Colossal founder Christopher Jobson to curate the 18-hole artist-designed golf course, Par Excellence Redux, opening at the Museum May 9, National Miniature Golf Day, through September 13, 2020. The fully playable course, designed by artists and architects from the Midwest and beyond, pays homage to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s wildly popular 1988 exhibition, Par Excellence.
Par Excellence Redux promises an unusual twist on a familiar pastime throughout the Museum’s galleries as players explore a surprisingly varied collection of themes—from social justice to the occult. The exhibition includes a fortune-telling hole that has the power to dramatically change scores as well as a hole that takes on the role of a giant pinball machine.
The original 1988 Par Excellence exhibition at the School of the Art Institute was the brainchild of Chicago sculptor Michael O'Brien and opened to queues down the block. The exhibition in Elmhurst will pay homage to the original course through ephemera, newspaper clippings, and photos. Additionally, the designer Annalee Koehn will recreate her original hole Determine Your Fate for the new course. Par Excellence was likely the first artist-designed mini-golf course ever created and paved the way for the commercialization of artistic golf courses that would follow.
Participating artists and a full list of programming—including the Museum’s “Putt Against a Pro” fundraiser on May 14 featuring Elmhurst resident and PGA professional Mark Wilson—will be announced in March.
About Colossal
Colossal is an international platform for contemporary art and visual expression that celebrates a vast range of creative disciplines. Founded as a blog in 2010 by writer and curator Christopher Jobson, the site has more than 6,500 published articles from contributors across the globe and reaches tens of millions of readers monthly on several online channels. Colossal is based in Chicago, and now works internationally to curate and produce large-scale art exhibitions and film events. Learn more at thisiscolossal.com/about and christopher.jobs/on/
About Elmhurst Art Museum
The Elmhurst Art Museum is located at 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst (IL), 25 minutes from downtown Chicago by car or public transportation (Metra). On the museum’s campus is the McCormick House, a single-family home designed in 1952 by Mies van der Rohe, one of the great architects of the 20th Century. The McCormick House is one of only three residences designed and built by Mies in the United States – and one of only two open to the public.
The Museum is both an international destination for Mies van der Rohe scholars and fans and a regional center where people from Chicago and the western suburbs learn to see and think differently through the study of the art, architecture and design of our time. The Museum is one block from the Elmhurst Metra station and open Tuesday-Sunday from 11am -5pm. Admission is $12 ($10 for seniors) and free for students and children under 18. For more information, please call 630.834.0202 or visit elmhurstartmuseum.org.