The Flinders Street Station Ballroom in Melbourne is about to take on a whole new look - mini golf with an artistic twist.

RISING, Melbourne’s premier winter arts festival, has unveiled its take on mini golf - a major new creative commission titled 'Swingers : The Art of Mini Golf' which is described as a mind-bending, playable art exhibition.

The Ballroom and labyrinthine upper level at iconic Flinders Street Station will be transformed into a surreal, holey new world. with nine imaginative mini-golf holes dreamt up by some of the world's most dynamic female-identifying artists.

Opening on the first day of RISING - Wednesday, June 4 - and running for an extended season until Sunday August 31, the line-up of artists is set to transform mini-golf into a joyful and unexpected hands-on art experience.

It has been developed by RISING senior curator Grace Herbert, who drew on mini-golf’s radical femme roots to select some of the most adventurous artists working in Australia and internationally to take part in the project.

The original mini golf game was dreamt up by 19th-century Scottish women who were banned from the ‘real’ golf courses but refused to sit on the sidelines.

Over the centuries, the humble sport continued to be a game for rule breakers, fuelling a putt putt craze in prohibition-era Los Angeles, withr ooftop courses and roadside attractions embracing whimsical, obstacle-filled designs, to later becoming one of the first desegregated public spaces in the USA by the 1940s.

“The history of mini golf is surprisingly subversive and sits at the heart of this project," Herbert said.

"It’s been incredible to see how each artist has taken this on. Alongside playing mini-golf and experiencing the artworks, you might have your fortune told, travel to desert country, become a human-animal hybrid, or even find yourself singing along to Dolly Parton."

RISING is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and Visit Victoria.

RISING : Swingers — The Art of Mini Golf 4 June - 31 August Flinders Street Station Tuesday—Sunday Closed Mondays

Tue—Thu, 4—9pm Fri—Sat, 11am—9.30pm Sun and Public Holidays, 11am—7.30pm

Tickets: $26—35 Tickets are on presale for RISING subscribers from 8am Wed 19 Feb and on sale to the general public Fri 21 Feb 12pm. Subscribe and buy tickets at rising.melbourne.

ARTISTS Miranda July (USA) Kaylene Whiskey (AU) Saeborg (JPN) Nabilah Nordin (AU) Delaine Le Blas (UK) Natasha Tontey (ID) + more to be announced