Simply Steampunk: A Cache of Kinetic Art

I think one of the best definitions I've ever read of steampunk is it's a modern imagining of Victorian sensibilities looking to the future with Victoria machines it's technology from the 19th century that didn't exist then but exists now the Jules Verne the the submarines the high technology that was imagined at that day and they were starting to build timmi steampunk I think is an aesthetic that comes out of like maybe fashion or science fiction from the late 1800s as a Victorian aspect to it a lot of the steampunk novels today the music the clothing really do look back toward a 19th century aesthetic with a very futuristic view so it really is the convergence of the past and the future today a cache of kinetic art simply steampunk takes its inspiration from the morris museum's own guinness collection of mechanical instruments in automata both are about art in motion kinetic art mirto D Guinness an heir to the Guinness beer fortune collected 18th and 19th century mechanical instruments in automata his entire collection is now housed in a special wing at the Morris Museum the current day kinetic artists featured in the simply steampunk exhibition have devised their own very personal approaches to art in motion creating a sculpture that then moves with it with the look at that it could have been made 150 you know or a hundred years ago and that's sort of the goal of the steampunk moving [Music] I wanted a steampunk flying machine what I like about it is most steampunk tends to be English Victorian and just by my nature being an American has this American steamboat quality and I wanted the piece to feel like the fella or lady Liv built it just scavenged disparate pieces from all over and cobbled it together into this crazy whimsical machine my work is about spirituality but when you have a mechanical sculpture and moves it gives to you a feeling of time that time is not still [Music] these pieces are on homage to a fellow named thomas wilfred who was an incredibly talented light artist in the 20th century the idea of a bright light shining on a dented reflective surface and casting organic-looking reflections that's sort of the at the heart of his work and I've got a lot of that in these pieces called spin stack and the way it works is it's mounted on it's not that of four different turntables and it kind of takes the idea of a turntable makes it a little more difficult to use rather than just playing one record each one of these lampshades has a specific sort of shape to it and as the shape spins it generates a sound track and it's being read by a distance measuring sensors on the sound bar kind of right next to it and that kind of is inspired by like a techno soundtrack I think this show is just amazing and I'm so privileged to be a part of it the pieces here are just awesome [Music] you [Music]

Channel: StateoftheArtsNJ

Views: 118,478

Keywords: Steampunk, kinetic sculpture

Id: 69-pJCgF5QQ

Length: 4min 59sec (299 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2019