Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race |
| Only 91 days until the 14th annual race on Saturday, May 5! Get working on your entry now! |
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2012 Entry Forms Now Available!
The race is months away, but kinetic sculptures don’t build themselves! Prepare for the race by downloading the 2012 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race Entry Form, which is due Sunday, April 1.
Plan for May!
The Fourteenth Annual East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Championship will be May 5, 2012. Put it on your calendar!
2011 Race Report
The Thirteenth Annual Race was May 7, 2011. See photos and the full race report.
Thank you, Sponsors!
The Kinetic Sculpture Race and AVAM would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the 2011 Race: The Francis Goelet Charitable Trusts, Centre at Golden Ring, and J4P Associates.
Wall Street Journal
Read about the race on the front page of the May 19, 2010 Wall Street Journal!
What’s this all about?
Kinetic Sculptures are amphibious, human powered works of art custom built for the race. Each May, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in central Maryland. The eight-hour race covers 15 miles—mostly on pavement, but also including a trip into the Chesapeake Bay and through mud and sand.
Kinetic Sculpture Racing traces its roots to Ferndale, California in 1969 when artist Hobart Brown upgraded his son’s tricycle into a 5-wheeled pentacycle that was part of a race down Main Street. (Hobart did not win.) Over the decades since, the California race evolved into a 3-day all-terrain Kinetic Grand Championship including treacherous sand dunes, water crossings, and elaborate sculptures and costumes. You can learn more on Wikipedia.
For more about the Baltimore race, browse the race photo results in the left menu.
Where can I see Kinetic Sculptures?
You can go to a Kinetic Sculpture Race on the day(s) they run, or a Kinetic Sculpture Museum any time it’s open. The two museums are the Kinetic Sculpture Museum in Ferndale, California, and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. AVAM displays their sculptures and the winner of the Art award in their museum year-round.
How to Build a Kinetic Sculpture
It’s back! After it disappeared from the internet, Elliot and I have restored his How To Build a Kinetic Sculpture reference guide.