The Amusing Steampunk

The term 'steampunk' was coined in 1897, by the writer K. W. Jeter, wanting to find a label that would give sense to the work which didn't situate it's action in the pos-apocalyptic societies, but in the time that never was; that future full of controllable locomotion and submarines that H. G. Wells fantasised about in the 19th century.

In recent years, it has indeed made the jump to real life, and converted into an omnivorous movement that propagate through the Internet, in modus vivendi - a mode of living, at the margin of literature and cinema that feeds on whatever reference of a past in sepia colour: parasols, top hats, crinolines, lace-up corsets, eye shades of aviators ... It's followers have constructed a made-to-measure world, with gallant gentlemen and delicate Victorian ladies. In which the impossible travel stops being so.

Sean Slattery, a technician of information and communication in Boston, and under the identity of Jack von Slatt, has created modifications Steampunk. The keyboard of his computer, for instance, belong formerly to an old typewriter of the 50's, and his television is embellished with copper filigrees. Because he has declared war to the mass production, has endowed and fitted all his technologic machines with an Victorian air. I certainly think it beats the kind that comes out from a plastic mold that Ikea and Microsoft sell.

Paul de Filippo, author of the trilogy Steampunk, talked about the obsolete intrinsic character of the new technologies saying: "There are museums preserving steam machines and mechanical clocks, but can't imagine that in the future there would be a museum displaying Blackberries and GPS.

It's not just a matter of esthetics. In the Steampunk it underlies the ethic lecture. Recuperate values of artisan craftsmanship and the 'Do it yourself' spirit. Searching for beauty out of the ordinary. In Spain, the machines of Josep Manel Rey, like those of Slatt, are scrape metal put together with ingenuity, imagination and endless hours of labour, earning the status of work of art. He is the admin. of the first Blog, in Spanish, at: alrededordelmundosteampunk.com

 

Wouldn't it be real fun using this gorgeous computer in that cute little house up the tree?

Tags:steampunk

Current Mood: Artistic