In this often very serious, terribly angsty post-COVID world, Canberra, in fact the whole planet, needs artists like Travis Bullock and Constance Titterton.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Canberra husband and wife make kinetic sculptures - art that moves - that is whimsical and unexpected and just plain silly. People can't help but stop and stare and laugh. Their art lifts the heart.
You may have seen their Shelly the Snail meandering the streets of Braddon at lunchtimes last year or Cosmo the cockatoo bobbing up at Enlighten.
They are both pedal-powered creations, made from old bikes and other bits and bobs, put together in a community workshop that was once an oval maintenance shed, in Giralang.
The couple are now going next level thanks to a grant from the City Renewal Authority to launch Canberra's First Kinetic Sculpture Race through the streets of Braddon and Civic and into Lake Burley Griffin.
The one-day race of human-powered, amphibious, art vehicles is hoped to be held on October 30, bringing back some of the fun and spectacle of Canberra's long-gone, much-lamented Birdman Rally.
"It's to show that fun is still possible, I guess," Travis said.
There are at least eight or nine race entries under construction at the moment by different competitors across Canberra and Travis and Constance hope there will be at least 15 vehicles competing on the day.
The creations won't be trying to fly through the air like the Birdman Rally entries, but will have to be all-terrain, moving over land and water, starting and finishing in Haig Park.
Travis said the water course would hopefully go from the Carillon to Regatta Point.
The artist pair are meeting on Wednesday with the National Capital Authority and ACT authorities to ensure all the permits and insurance are in place for the race.
Travis, who is originally from the United States, said the inspiration was from a long-running Californian kinetic sculpture race which he had competed in throughout his school years.
"Art will be judged, the speed will be judged, engineering will be judged and pageantry will be judged," he said.
"So song and dance and costumes. It's like a parade. They call it the triathlon of the art world. So it happens elsewhere but it has never happened in Canberra.
"We're using Shelly and Cosmo as inspiration for people to see what they can build and to build similar-type creations for the race."
Travis, 27, and Constance, 28, who is from Sydney, met in the United States while both were studying at the University of California, Berkeley.
"I studied physics and astrophysics, I definitely didn't go to art school," Travis said.
"Constance was studying English and politics. We have definitely gone into a different direction to what we studied but we love working in events and working in art and building these things."
The couple moved to Canberra last year when they had secured other funding from the City Renewal Authority to build Shelly. They stayed because Constance's sister lived here and returning to the US in the midst of COVID was not appealing.
They are glad they stayed and they love what they do.
"The reactions are the best," Travis said. "The surprise, the double-takes. We took Cosmo out at night for Enlighten and people in the bars were standing up and applauding. It was just complete silliness."
The community maker space in Giralang is called Mack Hack Void. Travis said he hoped more people would come use the facility.
"It is a donation-based, shared workshop, for anybody to join," he said.
"The space has an extensive collection of tools from wood working, metal working, electronics and more. This is where we build our sculptures and where anybody can build anything."
- More details about Canberra's Kinetic Sculpture Race: www.cksr.org/