WHAT IS A KINETIC SCULPTURE?

Kinetic sculpture events have a varied and diverse background. We are drawing from events and races from other cities and groups to create our own version for this art loving, family friendly and bicycle loving town.

Key West's Kinetic Sculptures are human-powered art sculptures that are engineered and styled to inspire and amaze. Kinetic sculptures are amazing works of art; many are animated with moving parts like blinking eyes, opening mouths, heads that move side to side and up and down. Kinetic Sculptures are usually made from what some people consider “junk”. But one man’s junk is another artist's raw material. Each Kinetic Sculpture is a work of art and each team of artists has its own theme.

The teams often consist of pilots, pit crew and peons. Kinetic Pilots pedal the sculpture and steer, the pit crew assists the pilots in transforming the vehicle for the various elements and fixing mechanical issues, and peons, well, they do whatever is needed for the team to get glory. Seeing these marvels of art and engineering turns many people on to bike culture and reminds people how much fun riding your bike can be!

Check out the video below featuring a brief demonstration of the basic kinetic sculpture principles via the Prototype of Theo Jansen:

The Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Parade has been around since 1999 and has even incorporated water-based sculptures! The Baltimore Kinetic Parade is more of a competitive race style, different from the Key West Kinetic format, but their website offers a great "How-To Tutorial" on all things Kinetic! Follow the link below.
http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/KSR/howto.asp

Click the link below for another helpful tutorial on small-scale kinetic sculptures.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Strandbeest-Mk-2/