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Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race



Here's a Sculpture!
2022 Engineering award winner Pinktastic cranks through the mud to win an ACE award. Photo by Rich Wilke. Want to see more photos?

Race Day: May 6!

Plan to be in Baltimore for the East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race all day Saturday May 6, with the theme Everyday People! The 2023 Spectator’s Guide will be available in late April, so until then you can refer to the 2022 Spectator’s Guide as a general reference for what to expect. Also see our complete photo coverage of the 2022 race!

Volunteers: Mud! Sand! Kops! You!

Help make it happen! The race needs volunteers like you! All you need to do is attend a Volunteer Meeting on Wednesday, April 12 or Saturday, April 29 and be ready for a fun crazy day! Learn more.

Only 36 days until the race on Saturday, May 6. Get working on your spectator costume now!
Kinetic Poster
Kinetic Poster

Racers: Entry Forms due April 1

Get moving: the deadline for kinetinaut entry forms is 4pm Friday, April 1! Download the entry form on the Enter! page which also has tips for building a great entry.

Kinetic Forum

Join the community to talk with other Kinetic racers, spectators, and volunteers! Due to persistent spammers, automatic forum registration is disabled. To join the forum, please email Tom at the address at the bottom of the page, with a brief note about your interest in Kinetics and the username you'd like.

What’s a Kinetic Sculpture Race?

Kinetic Sculptures are amphibious, human powered works of art custom built for the race. Each May, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) produces and hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s 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 began in Ferndale, California in 1969 when artist Hobart Brown upgraded his son’s tricycle into a 5-wheeled pentacycle and was challenged to 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 including a list of other races nationwide.

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 race days, or the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. AVAM displays Fifi and their other sculptures year round in the dedicated Sculpture Barn.

How to Build a Kinetic Sculpture

Learn from Elliot’s How To Build a Kinetic Sculpture reference guide.

The Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race is sponsored and run by the American Visionary Art Museum. KineticBaltimore.com is the volunteer work of Tom Jones.
If you have suggestions about making this site better, or questions, e-mail Tom at tjones@spril.com.