Sculpture Racing

Yesterday I went to Cambridge for the People’s Sculpture Race. What in Bast’s name is a sculpture race?

From the People’s Sculpture Racing website:

“Part street theater, part performance art, part sporting event” — Pat Keck, of the 1980s inspiration for the project, World Sculpture Racing.

Sculpture races are short races (< 1 mile) of pushed, pulled, and select pedalled artwork in urban locations. Racing sculptures uphold a high level of artistic vision and realization in pursuit of an aesthetic spectacle. As total art forms, works may include multimedia art and performance

There was the team of men with a small-ish scale replica of Da Vinci’s glider (or maybe it was built to original specs?). Why they all had dozens of old neckties pinned to their shirts and otherwise draped about themselves is beyond me BUT it was cool.

There was a family of giant mice toting a huge trap.

A mule library—the Book Burro.

A man in a mondo, high riding baby carriage.

A Brobdingnagian silverfish, piloted by debonair gent rockin' an awesome skull bedecked shirt.

A couple whose bikes were kitted out as small fluorescent dinos.

And then there was the sailboat with 3 lengths of ocean track. As the craft cast anchor and cruised into the second frame of sea, the large crew lifted the first set of rails and moved it to the end. In this way, the ship voyaged from start to finish—10 blocks (more or less) later. Werner Herzog’s Fizcarraldo came to mind…of course.

There were others in the race—these are just the ones who stood out to me.

This was magnificent—tremendous city! Here’s the thing—I WILL enter this race next year. Got, got to, MUST! This looked like a total, stone blast. I already have a raft of ideas too. Naturally, Jen will have to do this with me.

Do we start with a six foot, 3-D replica of Hokusai’s Great Wave (with Jen atop, surfing)? Should we have an eight foot Godzilla trampling Tokyo (Jen wearing the Godzilla portion of the sculpture, of course)? What about a bank of fluffy clouds with an angel or Mothra cruising over top (guess who's in the Angel/Mothra suit)? My trike will serve as the base, the wheels. We’ll build up from there.

I’m PSYCHED!