by Alex Chambers for Indiana Public Media
In the spring of 2025, Maxwell Fertik, who teaches comprehensive design [in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design] at Indiana University, gathered a group of 13 undergraduates in a classroom and told them their assignment: design a series of miniature golf holes based on Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle. He broke them up into four groups: a concept team, to come up with the approach; a graphics team, who designed a zine and map of where the holes would be set up on Kirkwood Ave in downtown Bloomington; a fabrication team, who sourced materials, and a design team, who drew the holes themselves in CAD. Over the course of eight weeks, they designed and built VonneGolf, a series of five holes that would go up at Granfalloon, the festival of arts and ideas, that June.
Fertik then made a pitch to Nice Work producer and co-host Alex Chambers: What if we interviewed professors and other experts about the ideas behind the holes while playing through? Of course, Alex knew there was no better way to have a deep philosophical discussion than over mini golf. With Fertik’s support, Alex interviewed IU history professor Andy Bruno, Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library curator Chris LaFave, Executive Director of Arts and Humanities at IU Jon Kay, physics professor and Executive Dean of the IU College of Arts and Sciences Rick Van Kooten, and SUNY Fredonia English professor Christina Jarvis.
The comprehensive design students who designed and built VonneGolf were: Gabriela Pacheco, Zoe Nourie, Carly Erler, Josie Kreitenstein, Mason Chin, Sam Moore, Gabriel Sollars, Skyler Atkins, Skhyler Budd, Gage Pratt, Mia Birkenbeul, Raquel Perez and Derek Gilcher.
VonneGolf has since been acquired by the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis.
