In a mini-golf course, hints of something deeper
On a Saturday afternoon in a sprawling warehouse on Pier 70, just east of Dogpatch, people are knocking golf balls over waves made of felt and through a miniature submarine crafted out of scavenged metal.
Take the first hole, a straight shot down a wooden chute, not quite a foot wide but many feet long.
Julia Russotti, a member of the group Make Big Art, designed the piece and named it “Long Haul.”
Some are a nod to the history of the space (that model submarine doesn’t feel so kitschy when you find out that they used to build subs in the pier’s shipyard), while others, like the first, are a meditation on the nature of life.
If all goes right, the the pier may one day be a home to the stuff of developers’ dreams: cafes, open-air markets, retail and housing for artists.
[...] a group called Pier 70 Partners has been throwing events there, “activating” the area in advance of the eventual redevelopment.
At that point, the warehouse — a softly lit, 60,000-square-foot depot made of corrugated metal that, in certain places, has taken on the color of rust — will host other crowds doing other things.
Having artists deepen the meaning of the course seemed like an obvious move, Lundquist added, given how the space lends itself to installations because “it’s an inspiring place when you walk in.”
During the height of World War II, 18,000 people would work at the pier each day, helping to fabricate ships with words like “destroyer” and “cruiser” in their name.
The hole, if you know what to look for, actually walks the player through the steps of tying a bowline knot, an ancient, simple and strong knot.
When she installed it, the zen sand trap at the center of the hole was full of swirling rainbow colors.
Martin Sweet, along with a partner, designed the third hole, which incorporated a number of clocks into the design and obliquely references all the borrowed time the Bay Area is living on as it waits for the next “Big One” to shake it all down.
[...] for those who want to just enjoy the course, just spend a day sending golf balls flying through the mouth of a rock that looks like a skull — that works, too.