Carnegie Mellon University
April 08, 2011

Press Release: Second Annual Anti-Gravity Downhill Race Returns to CMU

Contacts: Teresa Thomas/ Media Relations / 412-268-2900 / thomas@cmu.edu
Lauren Goshinski / School of Art / 412-268-1533 / laurengo@andrew.cmu.edu

antigravity posterPITTSBURGH—The slowest race this side of the Mississippi, the “Anti-Gravity Great Downhill Race,” returns to Carnegie Mellon University, hosted by the School of Art and 2010 Kraus Visiting Professor of Art Pat Oleszko.
     
The race, featuring individual and group entries from CMU’s College of Fine Arts, will be held at 4:30 p.m., Monday, April 18 on The Cut in front of Doherty Hall at the center of Carnegie Mellon’s campus. The race is free and open to public.
     
“You can be a triumphant tortoise — on a roll. Our only rule is that you leave your engines at home and let Aunti Gravity do her voodoo ... doo,” Oleszko said.
     
The 2011 Anti-Gravity race is organized by undergraduate students enrolled in the School of Art’s  “Altering the Existing” Class. The students are Zahra Ahmed, Tara Helfer, Emily Wobb, Mirrie Choi, Zena Ruiz, Steven Mentzer, Julia Cahill, Chloe Koo, Natalia Gomez, Laura Westover, Allison Gozion and Lina Chung. In this hands-on course students deconstruct and transform the function of existing objects to create unconventional sculptural works. Mobiles and machines that deftly defy gravity’s pull will trundle down the center of campus. Onlookers are warned that crashes, explosions, feats of magic and occasional yawning may occur.
     
Oleszko’s Spring 2010 sculpture class initiated the race — a playful antithesis to Carnegie Mellon’s fast and furious Spring Carnival buggy races.
     
Photos from last year’s Anti-Gravity race can be viewed on the School of Art’s Flickr stream at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soa_cmu

###