A layered play on concepts, Le Bagatelle de Bagatelle was designed as a working golf ball bagatelle game for the 2013 Artist-Designed Mini-Golf Course at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Bagatelle. Noun. 1. "A trifle; thing of no importance," from 16th century French bagatelle "knick-knack, bauble, trinket". 2. Any of various games involving the rolling of balls into scoring areas.
A game named after a game named after a château named after a trifle, Le Bagatelle de Bagatelle is a layered nod to the history behind the pinball machine — evolved during an era of opulence and excess in 18th-century France when parlor games of skill morphed into gambling games of chance.
In Paris of 1777, the fabulous Château de Bagatelle was conceived on a bet between the Comtes d’Artois and his sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette: The Comtes bragged that he could construct a Château and its gardens within 64 days, and Marie did not believe that he could do it.
With over 900 workers and craftsmen working for d’Artois around the clock, Marie lost the bet.
D’Artois — a gambler, courtesan dandy, womanizer and all-around playboy — showcased in this very building a new parlor game that borrowed elements from other games including billiards, Trou Madame, and 9-holes. The new game was a complex blend of skill and chance and offered the young prince and his courtesans the opportunity to win and lose small fortunes. The Comte d’Artois unveiled this new game — named after the property — and “Le Bagatelle” quickly became a hit amongst his friends and cronies.
In its exploration of this history and the interplay between luck and skill, Unnasch's Le Bagatelle de Bagatelle reveals his affinity for this style of game — a fondness to which his sizeable personal collection of antique bagatelle games also attests.
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