Mo Rocca Reported on Steampunk for CBS
“Once upon a time scientists and inventors dressed up in outlandishly old-fashioned clothes and employed outlandishly old-fashioned technology in their contraptions. Turns out, what’s old IS new again, as Mo Rocca is about to reveal:
Welcome to the annual Steampunk World’s Fair in Somerset, N.J. – only an hour’s drive from Manhattan, but in spirit over a century removed from the present day.
One attendee said her prominent corset was comfortable: “Oh yes, absolutely. It’s very supportive and it encourages good posture.” Like a sports bra, noted Rocca.
Corsets and goggles and gears, oh my! And weaponry of all shapes and calibers, like the steam-powered ray gun. If you came unarmed, or under-dressed, dozens of vendors fill the fair with suitable steampunk wear.
By now you’re probably wondering, what IS steampunk?…”
Check out the whole 2012 article as well as a great collection of links at :http://www.cbsnews.com/news/steampunk-yesterdays-tomorrow/
They also featured the Steampunk World Fair in the video below.
Artist Justin Rowe Makes Books Come to Life
And I thought I got really into my books! Check out these amazing book sculptures by Englander Justin Rowe. There are tons more of these on his website. He also recently had his work on display as part of the British Academy’s Literature Week.
The Kraken by Justin Rowe
Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure by Justin Rowe
Shoot the Moon by Justin Rowe
British Academy Literary Week installation
Steampunk hits the Paralympics: Festival of Flame (2012) Gallery
The 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony featured huge metal vehicles and steamy costumes. I created a gallery of images, plus you can watch the whole closing ceremony including appearances by Rihanna and Coldplay below.
Correfoc, Barcelona 2005
The performance was called The Festival of Flame and it certainly lived up to its name. It reminded me of being in Barcelona in the fall when they have their annual festival, La Merce. I got to experience the correfoc (fire run) with some friends in 2005 and I was the only one to actually brave the sparks and make a run for it. (pictured left) La Merce has been celebrated since 1902 and features fire breathing monster floats, drumming demons and human castles 6 people high.
Festival of Flame
Want to see more steamy vehicles? Check out my vehicle gallery here!
Steampunk Sourcebook: Captain Nemo
The enigmatic Captain Nemo made his first appearance in Jules Verne’s science fiction classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), which takes place in the late 1860s. Little is revealed about the mysterious figure besides his hunger for scientific knowledge and his rejection of imperialism and by extension, most of the world above the ocean. He and his dedicated crew exist “below the law” by rarely stepping foot on dry land and aiding those oppressed by imperialism. In the second novel featuring Nemo, The Mysterious Island (1874), he tells a group of castaways that he is the son of a raja named Prince Dakkar and that he lost his family in the First Indian War for Independence against the British (1857). After the death of his loved ones he goes into hiding and embarks on secret scientific research, culminating in an electric submarine called the Nautilus.
Fun Facts and Context:
۞ Nemo means “Nobody” in Latin
۞”20,000 Leagues under the sea” is often interpreted as the vertical distance down into the depth of the ocean, but it is a slight mistranslation of the french title “Vingt mille lieues sous les mers” where mers (meanings seas, plural) was translated as “sea.” It is meant to indicate the horizontal distance traveled under the water, not the depth of the water. 20,000 leagues is 6 times bigger than the diameter of the planet (each league is 4 kilometers).
۞ In the original manuscript, Nemo was a Polish noble whose family was killed in the January Uprising (1863-1865) by Russian oppressors. Fearing a blow to sales (as well as insulting France’s ally), Verne’s editor asked him to change the character and keep the details shadowy.
۞ Though he is an Indian prince in the final iteration of the novel, Nemo spent most of his formative years in Europe so he speaks with a British accent (he admits to speaking French, Latin and Gerrman as well).
۞ And though he hates the imperialist nature of European nations, the Nautilus is full of treasures from around Europe including an organ which Nemo plays masterfully. There is also a substantial library on board to feed his scientific pursuits.
۞ Nemo has a brief appearance in one more of Verne’s works, a play called Journey Through the Impossible. The play was not published until 1981 after a handwritten copy was discovered in 1978. The first English translation was completed in 2003.
۞ There was a real submarine called the Nautilus, which was designed by an American inventor living in France named Richard Fulton. It was developed in the late 1700s and was powered by a hand crank.
Captain Nemo has appeared in various adaptations of Verne’s novels, but few of these belong in the Steampunk canon. For instance, the 1954 film adaptation is heavily influenced by the style and politics of the era, and some important details are changed (for instance, the Nautilus runs on nuclear power rather than electricity). You can find a full list of Captain Nemo’s appearances here, but for the sake of this post I am focusing on the versions of Nemo that fit firmly into Steampunk.
For instance, Alan Moore’s graphic novels (and the film adaptation) featuring The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In this series, Nemo is much more callous, even bloodthirsty, than the original character. Verne’s Nemo saved whales, Moore’s Nemo mows down people with machine guns (Volume 1).
Captain Nemo also appears in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, a 1973 novel by Philip Jose Farmer. If you haven’t guessed it, this is a crossover novel that takes place in the world of Around the World in 80 Days but incorporates (or rather co-opts) characters from other novels like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series. In Farmer’s account, Captain Nemo is better known in some circles at Professor Moriarty.
Kevin J. Anderson rewrites Captain Nemo’s history (and brings a childhood spent with Jules Verne into the mix) in his novel, Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius (2002).
Check out my gallery below for various versions of this Victorian antihero and other steamy sea captains.
Steampunk TV: NBC’s Dracula
I have heard some hemming and hawing about the costumes in NBC’s Dracula because they aren’t “period” enough. Personally, I think that is part of what makes it steampunk rather than a period drama and therefore way more interesting. I watched a special about the making of the Tudors and I think the costumers on Dracula are taking the same approach: It’s not about historical accuracy, it is about making the audience look at clothes and get an impression about the person wearing them. For instance, records about the real Anne Boleyn show that she was on the forefront of fashion in her day, but how do you capture that for an audience that doesn’t know the difference between silk and satin?
So the costume designers made a compromise between authenticity and modern designs to appeal to the audience and give the impression of her changing status as her look evolved. The same goes for music in movies like Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, these aren’t the original songs or even the original genre of music, but the point is to capture the excitement of the time and place and draw the audience into the world of the film.
Dracula Cast
And the same goes for NBC’s Dracula. The men’s clothing is absolutely gorgeous and connotes the huge wealth that Dracula and the Order Draco control. Except for during the occasional ball, Mina’s clothes are much plainer than Lucy’s, which brings their different social statuses into focus. Here are some costumes and sets for you to drool over.
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- Renfield and Harker look great in velvet collars
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- NBC Dracula
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- Renfield rocking a suit with a single button closure
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- Dracula in pin stripes
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- Lovely ladies of Dracula
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- NBC Dracula
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- Harker looks amazing in his blue corduroy suit
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- Interior of Dracula’s house
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- Interior of Dracula’s house
Prada’s Steampunk Fashion for Men
Prada added some Edwardian style to their Fall/Winter 2012 line for men. I think menswear has a lot of potential for subtle Steampunk because suits are always in style, its just the cut and patterns that change. I also noted several very high-necked shirts and collars. Gary Oldman and Willem Dafoe headline this shoot along with Garrett Hedlund and Jamie Bell. Check out the gallery of photos from JDFalksen.com.
Dystopian Metal: The Art of Greg Brotherton
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- Watchtower
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- 3 Wheeled Horn
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- Into the Void
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- Mercury 5000- It reminds me of Abraham Sapiens from Hellboy
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- Migraine Machine
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- Oracle
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- Search Engine
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- Sounding the Furnace
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- The Lift
Metal is one of the most satisfying mediums I have ever worked with and I hope to get a chance to do more in the future. But even if I never do, I will always love metal art. The strength and flexibility of the material means an artist is really only constrained by the bounds of their imaginations (okay, and sometimes their tools). I really enjoyed these metal men and the world I imagine them inhabiting, especially the “search engine” and the “observatory.”
You can find more of Greg Brotherton’s artwork (including many different angles of the pieces I chose for my post), as well as pictures from his studio here.
I always like to hear about people from the Midwest finding success, and it looks like Greg is one of those people. Here’s his bio:
“Born in Ames, Iowa, in 1968, Greg experienced a somewhat nomadic childhood, spending the majority of his youth in Utah and Colorado. His interest in the mechanical surfaced at age five, when he began disassembling anything with screws in it. By the age of twelve he had taught himself to mine his backyard with homemade explosives (no injuries!). Then, after being successfully ejected from a series of public and private learning institutions, Greg, equivalency test in hand, entered the Colorado Academy of Art, beginning his undergraduate studies at sixteen.
In 1987, after receiving a degree in graphic design, Greg set off for California. Over the next two decades, he forged a successful career as an award-winning commercial artist, while honing his skills as a sculptor.
With a consuming drive to build things that often escalate in complexity as they take shape, Greg’s work is compulsive. Working with hammer-formed steel and re-purposed objects, his themes tend to be mythological in nature, revealed through a dystopian view of pop culture.
Greg’s work has received international recognition, has been exhibited throughout the United States and is collected worldwide. In 2007, he was invited to serve as the featured artist at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED)Conference in Monterey, California, joining the ranks of some of the most prestigious artists, luminaries, and scientists of our time. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he continues to sculpt and experiment.”
For Whom the Gear Turns 