Kinetic sculpture races are organized contests of human-powered amphibious all-terrain works of art. The original cross country event, the World Championship Great Arcata To Ferndale Cross Country Kinetic Sculpture Race, now known as the Kinetic Grand Championship in Humboldt County, California, is also called the "Triathlon of the Art World" because art and engineering are combined with physical endurance during a three-day cross country race that includes sand, mud, pavement, a bay crossing, a river crossing and major hills.
Race locations
Kinetic sculpture races are held in many locations:
Humboldt County, California hosts the annual Kinetic Grand Championship each May over Memorial Day weekend. It spans over three days. Baltimore, Maryland – the East Coast Championship sponsored by the American Visionary Art Museum covers through downtown Baltimore and the harbor. Gainesville, Florida – the Menagerie in Motion Kinetic Derby in 2016 became the Southeast's first and only kinetic sculpture derby. The event occurs annually on the last weekend in February to coincide with Chimera Fest. Lowell, Massachusetts – New England's, Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race, through the streets of Lowell, a giant mud pit and navigating the Merrimack River. The third weekend of September. Port Townsend, Washington Corvallis, Oregon – as part of Da Vinci Days festival. Ventura, California – benefits the Turning Point Foundation. Klamath Falls, Oregon The race is held the last full weekend in June. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hosts a kinetic sculpture derby as part of the Trenton Avenue arts festival in the neighborhood of Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Coeur d' Alene, ID – Gizmotion Celebration of Creativity
There are other kinetic challenges, derbies and so on which follow some of the rules and traditions of kinetic sculpture racing, but are not an official part of it.
Races were formerly held in Poland, Geraldton, Western Australia, Clearlake, California and Prescott Valley, Arizona.
World Championship
The concept of kinetic sculpture racing originated in Ferndale, California in 1969 when local sculptor Hobart Brown "improved" the appearance of his son's tricycle by welding on two additional wheels and other embellishments. Seeing this "Pentacycle," fellow artist Jack Mays challenged him to a race. Others later joined in creating a field of twelve machines that inaugurated the first race down Ferndale's Main Street during the town's annual art festival. Neither Brown nor Mays won; instead, the first winner was Bob Brown of Eureka, California whose sculpture was a smoke-emitting Turtle that laid eggs. The race received broad publicity when photos of Congressman Don Clausen riding the Pentacycle were seen nationally.
The event was repeated in 1970, and the course subsequently expanded to include cross-country terrain. When affiliated races were initiated in other cities and the course grew, the Ferndale event became the World Championship, and has become the largest single event in Humboldt County.
During the 1970s, the race adopted its present three-day, cross-country format and became the "Triathlon of the Art World." Machines tackled mud, sand, water, gravel and pavement. Stan Bennett's book Crazy Contraptions chronicles the first five years of the race. In the early 1980s, Brown was referred to as the "Glorious Founder of the Kinetic Race" in a spectators' brochure.
As the 1980s ended, a mineral water company began sponsoring the race, which adopted a family-friendly approach. Soon after, a local manufacturer of sports racks and car storage boxes became interested in the race. The sponsors' financial support – especially the creation of the Kinetic Lab in Arcata – took the race to a new level of art and engineering. The Lab's long sculpture Yakima KingFish was the longest ever raced according to its creator.
During the 1990s, the race matured. Many contestants were younger than the race, having grown up with its philosophy, "Adults having fun so children will want to grow older," coined by Brown. As age and crippling arthritis limited his activities, he sold the race rights, the kinetic chicken logo and the trademark "For the Glory" slogan to a new not-for-profit agency called the Humboldt Kinetic Association in 2002.