Rochester Art Center is currently hosting an innovative exhibition that brings together two seemingly unrelated worlds: architectural design and playful recreation. Curated by Zoe Cinel, “Mini Golf & Chairs” presents visitors with twenty carefully crafted chairs from the private collection of Southeast Minnesota residents Ruth and Dave Klawiter, alongside an artist-designed mini golf course that draws inspiration from these architectural pieces. This exhibition invites guests to not only appreciate design but actively engage with it through play.
The exhibition creates a unique dialogue between form and function, transforming the typically passive museum experience into an interactive adventure. Visitors can examine chairs dating from 1904 to the 2010s, each representing significant moments in design, and then test their putting skills on mini golf holes that cleverly reference these same designs.
By bringing together serious design appreciation with lighthearted recreation, Cinel has created an experience that breaks down traditional barriers between “high art” and accessible entertainment, making design principles approachable for visitors of all ages and backgrounds.
The chair collection showcased in the exhibition represents an impressive chronological journey through modern furniture design. Spanning more than a century, the twenty selected pieces demonstrate the evolution of materials, manufacturing techniques, and aesthetic philosophies that shaped our everyday environments.
These aren’t just functional objects but statements reflecting their creators’ cultural contexts, historical influences, and technical innovations. Many pieces in the collection serve as miniature versions of their creators’ architectural visions, with the same principles of structure and form that define significant buildings scaled down to seat-sized dimensions.
Visitors will discover fascinating regional connections throughout the exhibition. Several architects whose chairs are displayed also designed prominent buildings in the area, creating an opportunity for extended exploration beyond the gallery walls. Most notably, Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, represented in the chair collection, also designed Rochester’s iconic “Big Blue” Technology Campus.
This thoughtful curation encourages locals to see their familiar surroundings with fresh eyes, recognizing how architectural principles shape both our intimate interactions with furniture and our broader relationships with public spaces throughout Southeast Minnesota.
The exhibition’s standout feature is its custom-designed mini golf course, where five regional artists have created playable holes directly inspired by chairs in the Klawiter collection. Each artist selected a specific chair, conducted deep research into its design elements, and translated those characteristics into a challenging and visually striking mini golf experience.
The result is a series of holes that cleverly incorporate the shapes, colors, textures, and conceptual foundations of their chair counterparts, making design principles tangible through play. Created through a juried selection process overseen by mini golf experts Tom Loftus and Robin Schwartzman of A Couple of Putts, the course represents a thoughtful bridge between art appreciation and active engagement.
Accessing this unique exhibition is remarkably affordable for visitors. The Rochester Art Center offers a $5 Play Pass that includes a complete round of mini golf along with full exhibition access. For frequent visitors or those planning to return with friends and family, a $45 Punch Card provides ten rounds of play, perfect for sharing the experience throughout the exhibition’s run.
The center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, making it an ideal destination for weekend family outings, creative date ideas, or an inspiring solo adventure that combines reflection with recreation in one cultural experience.
