Phil Mercer

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Steampunk

 

I had a chance to go and have a look around the latest arrivals at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford.

In a step away from the usually rather academic and even high brow collection for the next four months they have moved in to the world of the gothic and surreal!

I'd not heard of the phrase 'Steampunk' before now but I had certainly seen it. This is the rebelian against cyberpunk that uses Victorian styles for modern gadgets and gizmos... all of which have no real use!

The style, creativity and orginality of the creations are wonderful. There is a definate obsession with the grotesque and industrial. Use of goggles and the mechanisms in clocks appear often. Some of the figures look straight out of a Terry Gilliam film or a Tim Burton animation.

This is a delightful (albeit rather dark) journey in to a fantasy world. Look out for the Eye Pod as you wander round.

The choice of venue is also very interesting. Once completing the Steampunk section, you enter one of the standard galleries of the museum. It is hard to tell the difference. The original experimentations and scientific apparatus all look straight out of the Steampunk genre!

Labels: Exhibition

# posted by Phil @ 11:40 am

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