Sink or Swim: Baltimore's Kinetic Sculpture Race
By Andrew Keatts
Avid boaters beware: the people are reclaiming their waters. That is, assuming the participants of Baltimore’s Kinetic Sculpture Race have their say. Hosted by the American Visionary Art Museum, the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship issues a yearly challenge to any willing participant to build the most ambitious and creative multi-terrain vehicle imaginable. The result is a race through the streets and waters of Baltimore aboard “amphibious, human-powered works of art custom built for the race,” as described on the race’s Web site.
Rebecca Hoffberger, director and founder of the American Visionary Art Museum, says the event is very much a grassroots reclamation of our waters.
“It’s such an excitement to get out on the water,” she says. “It reminds you of when you were a child and you built a raft or some watercraft that you pushed out into a stream. The waters are so over-taken by those who can afford a yacht or a large boat; this challenges everyone to see if they can build something artful that can be pushed out into the water and paddled around before returning to land.”
Kinetic Sculpture Racing was born from the visionary mind of Hobart Brown. He created the first race in Humboldt County, California in 1969, a race that has come to be known as the World Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race. Brown guided creation of the Baltimore race in its early years before becoming a regular attendee. Before dying of pneumonia on November 7, his last words were “Tell the press!” Hoffberger says of Brown, “obviously, we were very big fans of his.”
The race begins in South Baltimore. Kinetic-racers steer their artful craft through Federal Hill before passing the museum and winding around the Inner Harbor. Once on the other side of the harbor, the kinetic-racers take their vehicle to the Canton Waterfront Park, where they must successfully navigate a loop through the water. Out of the water, the kinetic-racers make their way to Patterson Park, where obstacles including sand and mud pits await them. By the time the procession returns to the museum it has traversed 15 miles of rugged and varied terrain.
Now entering its 10th incarnation, the race has grown to become a regional favorite. “It’s one of the most popular and joyful acts we do,” Hoffberger says. “It’s been covered by CNN as well as a Middle-East news network. That one certainly caught us off guard.”
Though billed as a “Race Championship,” the Kinetic Sculpture Race is concerned with more than only the sequence in which its participants finish. The most prestigious award a kinetic-racer can receive is “The Ace Award,” given to the first finisher, although other desired honors include “The Very Competitive Non-competitive Category of Awards Grand East Coast National Mediocre Champion,” awarded to the sculpture and pilot finishing in the middle; “The Next to Last Award,” which is reasonably self-explanatory; “Worst Honorable Mention,” granted to the best display of half-baked engineering; and “The Very Very Competitive Category of Awards Grand Overall East Coast Ace Champion,” which is determined by a mysterious mathematical equation that encompasses artistic ingenuity, engineering prowess, and the sculpture’s ability to maneuver the course.
The American Visionary Art Museum, founded in the Federal Hill neighborhood in Baltimore in 1995, was established under an unconventional premise. In the museum’s mission statement, it announces its dedication to the display of “visionary art,” defined as “art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself.”
Hoffberger says the race goes far into embodying the museum’s definition of art. “The Greeks and the Hopis did not have a word in their language for ‘Art,’ in the sense of identifying a person as an ‘Artist’ who makes things that can be hung on a wall,” she says. “Theirs was more an idea of something that everyone does, things that are just simply well done. It’s a much healthier definition.
“We challenge everyone to see what they can come up with, what they can create.”
Theresa Segreti, commonly known as “Mother Theresa” for her slavish devotion to the race since its inception, says the size and scope of the race is roughly the same as when it began 10 years ago. No one, however, foresaw how the sculptures would evolve.
“Some of the sculptures are sophisticated wonders of science,” Segreti says. It’s amazing to see how the concepts have grown. They’ve reached levels of sophistication we never imagined.”
Particular entries from past races include a sculpture created for a paraplegic teacher by her students that she propelled by a hand cycle. One yearly participant has created a sculpture complete with a drive train and a transmission.
But the event involves more than the kinetic-racers themselves.
Spectators travel from all over the region to witness the display of art in motion. In fact, onlookers are encouraged to sport the goofiest garb they can find. The race’s Web site even offers links to bloggers who have designed their own Kinetic Costume Guide.
Segreti says the race strives to create a sense of community for everyone, even if they aren’t kinetic-racers themselves. One suggested piece of apparel is a pair of white gloves, so that racers can easily see the crowd’s waving hands as they pass.
“We have this crazy idea of getting everyone involved,” Segreti says. “Someday, we hope to conquer the world with our Baltimore race.”
If You Go
What: Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race
When: Saturday, May 3
Where: Throughout Downtown, Baltimore. Finish line is at the American Visionary Art Museum.
For a detailed description of the race and to view many photos from past kinetic sculpture races, visit www.kineticbaltimore.com.
What: American Visionary Art Museum
When: Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (closed Mondays)
Where: 800 Key Highway, Baltimore
Currently on exhibit,
All Faiths Beautiful,
through August 31st. Admission to the museum costs $12/adults, $8/students, children, and seniors. For more information about the American Visionary Art Museum, visit www.avam.org.