Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race |
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| 2019 Engineering award winner Shark Tank (Platypus), powered by 9 people, races a smaller MTA bus on Francis Scott Key Highway on the south side of the Inner Harbor.
Want to see more photos? |
September 21 Kinetic Race in Lowell, Massachusetts
Come celebrate Kinetic Sculpture Racing in Massachusetts on September 21! Click to learn more about the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Next Baltimore Race: May 2, 2020!
Plan to be in Baltimore for the 22st annual East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race all day Saturday May 2, 2020! The 2020 Spectator’s Guide will be available April 20, so until then you can refer to the 2019 Spectator’s Guide as a general reference for what to expect. Also see our complete photo coverage of the 2019 race!
| Only 224 days until the 2020 race! Saturday, May 2, 2020. It’s time to design your kinetic sculpture! |
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2018 Kinetic Pilgrimage
See our May 2018 trip to the Golden 50th Humboldt County Grand Championship at 2018 Pilgrimage.
Kinetic Forum
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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) hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race
Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s Harbor in central Maryland. The eight-hour race
covers 14 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.