When I first heard about Dan's Family Fun Park, I was under-whelmed. The idea of turning a gallery space into a put-put golf course and batting cage seemed flippant and dubiously ironic—a bit, "hey look what I can do!" However, in the resulting show, currently at PLAySPACE gallery and running through the 16th of September, Daniel Purbrick and Daniel Reneau have gracefully and gratuitously exceeded my low expectations.

All three miniature golf holes can be completed in four strokes, but may take you many more. (Dan Reneau claims to have done it in three!) In the batting cage you can flail at plastic balls pitched to you by either the accommodating gallery attendant or anyone who's handy, while projected on the wall beside you other batters work out their angst and polish their swings. Outside the batting cage there is a Mrs. Pac-man arcade game on which, if you have brought enough quarters, you may be able to get the high score. Or you can save your quarters and use them to buy some candy at the confectionary which you can enjoy while watching the projected go-cart racing or relaxing at the picnic table. T-shirts are available, but limited in quantity, and will go fast. The mini-golf holes, despite their jaunty green Astroturf and orange trim, exude much of the solemnity and gravitas expected from minimalist sculpture while inviting transgressive interaction akin to a Felix Gonzales Torres' candy pile. The batting cage and its video projection evoke the ubiquitous video projection room but turned on its head—the projection, window dressing for your performative activity. The concessions, in addition to being yummy, question the commercial role of art space but without the usual preachy-ness. Questioning the art market, subverting formal tropes, and challenging spatial behavioral norms, are great. But what is best about Dan's Family Fun Park, is that it takes us, within the gallery space, to a place before we learned the "rules" and reminds us that this work, all work, is there for us and that it can be fun.

PLAySPACE Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12-6pm. It is located on the second floor of the California College of the Arts at 1111 8th Street. For more information contact dpugh@cca.edu