Cooking Up a Day of Fanciful Fun 

If Willy Wonka was put in charge of a science fair, it might look something like the Kinetic Cake Expo, a fabulously delicious art challenge embedded into a colorful day of fun taking place at the Community Arts Workshop on Saturday, April 13. 

Inspired by kinetic sculpture races that have been taking place in Humboldt County for more than 50 years, as well as other similar festivals, organizers and artistic collaborators Adrienne De Guevara and Patrick Melroy of MISC Workshop invited me into their studio to get a sneak peek at what they’ve got cooking. 

The competition’s centerpiece — called the Cake Wash — is the first thing I see when I walk in. Candy-colored balls hang down from the ceiling and foam noodle prongs jut out from the sides, creating the beginnings of a psychedelic obstacle course using classic elements from a car wash. Only in this case, as De Guevara and Melroy explain, human-powered sculptures will propel through the Cake Wash, with the ostensibly simple task of delivering a cake to a picnic. 

And yes, Melroy ensures me, there will be water challenges too. 

At least five, and possibly a few more, teams are working to create their kinetic sculpture vehicles, with themes like “The Runaways,” a group in wedding gowns and other bridal paraphernalia, wheeling their way through the course. With engineers, artists, and regular old people out to compete for bragging rights, leading up to the festivities one of the highlights for the organizers has been fielding questions. 

“There’s a couple of NASA subcontractors that have a team and all of their questions were, ‘How can we beat the Cake Wash? How fast can we go through it? What countermeasures can we deploy? How strong is your Cake Wash?’” laughed Melroy. “So we were like, ‘You’re not allowed to destroy it.’” 

They have, however, been destroying a lot of cakes recently. Melroy has been taking cakes out on the weekly Boom Boom Bike Room rides to test things out. “So we bolt a cake to the back of my bike, and then ride out and try to get the cake all the way to the rendezvous point one way or another … Last Wednesday, we had a catastrophe, … I got the jump and the cake ejected, just flew through the air and landed on the ground,” he laughed.

Because there has to be a wheel of some sort between the ground and your feet, Melroy explained, that’s led them to take a number of participants on field trips to Bici Centro, the nearby community bike shop stocked with low-cost refurbished bicycles and parts. From tandem bikes to old “recumbent pieces of junk,” there’s a lot of recycling going on in making these creations as well. “We’re teaching people new skills, like welding,” said De Guevara. “It’s a very dynamic process.”

In addition to the kinetic sculptures, which will be judged in categories that range from aesthetics to agility, construction, theatricality, and of course humor, by a panel that includes Christina McCarthy of UCSB Theater Dance, Karen Taggart, organizer of the former Ventura Kinetic Race (who served as a mentor for the Santa Barbara project), and Joe Velasco of Boxtales fame, the family-friendly free event also includes activities like cupcake and cake decorating, a taco truck, and other creative activities. In addition, the kinetic sculptures that aren’t currently going through the Cake Wash will be on exhibit for guests to look at. 

The event is also designed to connect the community not just on the day of, but leading up to it and hopefully afterward. With support from the City of Santa Barbara through an Events and Festivals Grant, the County Office of Arts and Culture, MOXI, SBCC, and the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative, the idea is that the first Kinetic Cake Expo is just the beginning for proof of concept, and the hope is that it will grow into a large annual event in the vein of Solstice. 

It should be a great day for people to come out and just enjoy themselves, said De Guevara. Between the crowd and the judges, they expect “there’s gonna be banter, there’s gonna be fun. None of this is meant to be taken too seriously.”

The Kinetic Cake Expo takes place on Saturday, April 13, from noon to 5 p.m. at Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop (631 Garden St.). $10 admission at the door. See kineticcake.art for more information.