Monday 30 November 2009
STEAM PUNK
Contemporary Victorians!
Broadly, steampunk is about re-imagining the Victorian age and creating the appliances, clothes, weapons and lifestyles that might have come about if some present-day innovations had been invented way back when.
"It's about taking modern technology and presenting it in a way that the Victorians would have accepted," said Mr Richardson-Brown.
The broader field of steampunk traces its origins to an offshoot of science fiction which detailed a fictional past in which zeppelins, trips to the moon and Mars and science that depended on the harnessing of titanic energies was commonplace.
One of the best known steampunk works is the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.
Since then the ideas have cropped up in short stories, films, cartoons and on fashion catwalks. Its influence is becoming more and more pervasive.
The "punk" in the steampunk name comes from cyberpunk which was a hugely influential branch of science fiction pioneered by, among others, Gibson and Sterling. It swapped space opera for gritty streets, body mods and the "consensual hallucination" of cyberspace. The "punk" comes from the DIY ethic that powered the music of the same name.
Many adopt Victorian dress. Frock coats, waistcoats and top hats are popular among men. Women favour gowns, bustles and corsets.Most are bedecked with accessories that were never even dreamt of in the days of Victoria. Goggles are enhanced with extra lenses, metres and sights. Jewellery is fashioned to look like miniature pumps or knife switches. Brass, leather, buckles and cogs are all to the fore.
Many are dedicated makers and crafters who make their own clothes, accessories or mod their gadgets to have a more neo-Victorian feel. Steampunk balls are becoming more common as are conventions and themed outings.
The growing number of artists and amateurs who have built steampunk devices has led the Oxford Museum of the History of Science to mount an exhibition of them. The show runs until February 2010.
Broadly, steampunk is about re-imagining the Victorian age and creating the appliances, clothes, weapons and lifestyles that might have come about if some present-day innovations had been invented way back when.
"It's about taking modern technology and presenting it in a way that the Victorians would have accepted," said Mr Richardson-Brown.
The broader field of steampunk traces its origins to an offshoot of science fiction which detailed a fictional past in which zeppelins, trips to the moon and Mars and science that depended on the harnessing of titanic energies was commonplace.
One of the best known steampunk works is the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.
Since then the ideas have cropped up in short stories, films, cartoons and on fashion catwalks. Its influence is becoming more and more pervasive.
The "punk" in the steampunk name comes from cyberpunk which was a hugely influential branch of science fiction pioneered by, among others, Gibson and Sterling. It swapped space opera for gritty streets, body mods and the "consensual hallucination" of cyberspace. The "punk" comes from the DIY ethic that powered the music of the same name.
Many adopt Victorian dress. Frock coats, waistcoats and top hats are popular among men. Women favour gowns, bustles and corsets.Most are bedecked with accessories that were never even dreamt of in the days of Victoria. Goggles are enhanced with extra lenses, metres and sights. Jewellery is fashioned to look like miniature pumps or knife switches. Brass, leather, buckles and cogs are all to the fore.
Many are dedicated makers and crafters who make their own clothes, accessories or mod their gadgets to have a more neo-Victorian feel. Steampunk balls are becoming more common as are conventions and themed outings.
The growing number of artists and amateurs who have built steampunk devices has led the Oxford Museum of the History of Science to mount an exhibition of them. The show runs until February 2010.
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Silent View
Silent-View photography is an art photo project consisting of a photographer (Silent-View) and a model (Fraeulein von Rosenfelde). Since 2005 both of them implement with their pictures particularly gloomy and bizarre, sometimes unsettling themes, but extended their repertoire in 2007/2008 to fashion, glamour and band photography as well as to video art.
Kindred times and Future goodbyes
In an abandoned 19th century ruin in South Tel Aviv, four local artists with international roots invited the public to see what they’ve been up to on weekends. Know Hope, Klone, Zero Cents and Foma spend Saturdays decorating the streets and buildings of Israel’s seaside conurbation together. “We just started painting…then decided to go back the next week…and the next,” Know Hope states. They eventually decided to make an exhibition of their work, the location was kept secret until the opening day.
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