The Kinetic Grand Championship Race, known as the “triathlon of the art world” kicks off this Saturday. With around 50 miles to pedal over land, sand, mud, and water–artists from around the county put their art and athleticism to the test for the span of three days.
Kinetic sculptures are incredible works of art that are human-powered; with teams consisting of pilots, pit crew, and peons.
Co-captain of team Hamtastic Glory, Lush Newton explained the meaning behind her team’s sculpture.
“Back in 2018, we built a giant cartoon ham, and we were called Hunka Hunka Burning Ham, Glazed for Glory,” Newton said. “I wanted to make a ham because ham means that something special is going down, I grew up in the midwest and you knew it was going to be a fun, special occasion if there was a ham. This year, we’re Dr. Teeth’s and the Electric Mayhem because it’s me and it’s a ham and it’s kind of my love letter to the Muppet Show and the Muppets were one of the big reasons I make and do art.”
Much like all the teams participating–Newton and her team of 12 have put in months of work and research to deliver a performance the community wont forget.
“We’ve done lots of muppet research, we’ve been listening to a lot of Dr. John and Leon Russell to get ready for Dr. Teeth’s and the Electric Mayhem,” Newton said. “We’ve been wrangling fleece and foam and just, you know, trying to ramp up our glory real good so we can hit the plaza, we can go whole hog on the plaza.”
Ken Beidleman, lead engineer at the Kinetic Sculpture Lab and Captain of team 420 told us about his history with the race and what his team’s sculpture is all about.
“This is actually my 40th year of racing, can you believe that, or I guess it will be more now, I started in 1982 and I’m still doing it,” Beidleman. “This is kind of advertising our haunted house that we do, so like, follow me to the kinetic lab of horrors in October!”
Make your way to the Arcata plaza at noon tomorrow May 27th, to see the official start of the race.
“It’s a spectacle that you can’t even fathom, you know? all these folks have worked so hard putting together their human powered machines, thinking weird thoughts and then making them physical and real, it’s just it’s the weirdest thing that makes sense that you’ll ever see,” Newton said.
“If you’ve never seen this before, it’s the only way you can explain it, you have to see it in person to see what it’s really all about,” Beidleman said.
