Baltimore - Event

Every year, kinetic sculptures from across the eastern United States convene at the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) on Baltimore's Inner Harbor for the East Coast Championship race.

Kinetic sculpture races are becoming a bit of an institution in parts of the US. Participants spend weeks creating their labours of love: people-powered sculptures in all shapes and colours.

The idea for this type of race began in 1969 when Ferndale artist Hobart Brown made his son's tricycle into a mobile sculpture. This led to a bet over who could build the best (or weirdest) human-powered sculpture. Five contestents battled it out with Bob Brown, a Eureka metal sculptor, winning the race in his ten-foot turtle.