{ Speaker Womb installation, by Mike LaHood, at the PGA: Please Generate Art 2011 exhibit; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

Now that I’m back in school, I’m reminded of the all opportunities and resources available to students. But I don’t just mean events with free food and student discounts. Turns out there are all sorts of organizations and offices on campus that offer workshops for professional development and avenues for creative expression. This year, I’m taking advantage, dangit. I’ve decided to get involved with the graduate student component of Manifest, Columbia College Chicago’s annual, urban arts festival, which showcases the work of Columbia’s graduating students. The project devoted to graduate students is called PGA: Please Generate Art, an over the top, interactive art exhibit disguised as a miniature golf course.

{ Start your journey at the Pro Shop, by Erin Moren and Emily Lamoreaux; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

Last year, the course consisted of about 12 “golf holes”, which participants navigated through… as best they could. Some of the golf holes were functional, allowing the participants to actually sink their golf balls into a bathroom sink or through a life-size board game, for example, but most of them engaged the mini golfers in other ways. Each golf hole was designed and executed by a graduate student or small team of graduate students, from each of Columbia’s 15 graduate programs.

{ Photo credit: Braxton Black }

{ Bathroom/Meadow installation by Mike LaHood; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

In the Bathroom/Meadow golf hole, participants parted a shower curtain and found themselves in a fully furnished bathroom, complete with a graffitied wall they could add their names to AND a surprised bather! This actor was wearing a bathing suit, of course—it was a family friendly experience, after all. And it just so happens that I was the surprised bather for part of the day. It was interesting, to say the least.

{ Bodyscape installation by Emily D’Annunzio and Courtney St. Clair; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

Through the Bodyscape golf hole, a group of Dance/Movement Therapy students performed a type of contact dance improv. Participants had to navigate through a room of painted, contorted bodies to get to the next “hole”.

{ Operation installation by Emily Moravec; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

There was also a functioning, life-sized game of Operation…

{ Plinko installation by Mike LaHood; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

.. a “televised” game of Plinko…

{ Tea Party installation by Lucia Palmarini; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

… and a magical tea party with lions, and bears, and the pink panther. I was also dressed as the bear for part of the day. How do I get roped into these things?

{ The “Balloon Womb” leading to the Paintroll installation by David Marts; Photo credit: Braxton Black }

So this year, I want to play a larger, more creative role in PGA: Please Generate Art. I’ve teamed up with three fellow Arts Management students (my dear friends Caitlin, Katie, and Laura) to submit a proposal for our very own “golf hole”. The working title? Sound Collective. From our proposal:

Sound Collective is about appealing to the child-like musicians in all of us, about drawing forth the joy of making noise/music that most of us keep buried and hidden from criticism, about watching ourselves (through the strategic placement of mirrors) as we assume the roles of masters of our musical universes, and about the emotions we are able to conjure by seeing ourselves in this state.

Stay tuned, folks! I’ll be chronicling our PGA adventures as we further develop and construct our installation.