Subverse Aphrodesia

 LitGeek SubCulture 

"Steampunk is a science fiction subgenre. It began in the 1980s and it has since, in the past few years, been given an actual physical form by artists from around the world. Essentially, it's a celebration of the arts and sciences of the Victorian era turned into physical form. It's a very broad-based discipline. It involves everything from literature to science fact, scrience fiction, art sculpture, digital photography. And of course it's very popular in film."

A good ten months into my formal research I got wise and set up a couple Google alerts to cue me into the latest developments in the NeoVaudeville movement. As steampunk has captured the attention of bored creatives around the world in 2009, one blogger after another has felt the need to define the genre in his or her own words. I suspect this is in part to make sure they understand the genre's fantastic potential itself as well as to share what the discover with their readers.

Here are a few samples:

Steampunk 101

Steampunk for Beginners

Steampunk: What it is, why I came to like it, and why I think it'll stick around

The Harlem James Gang

I first saw The James Gang in 2008 on the third season of America's Got Talent of all places. The freshest act of the season as far as I was concerned. They made it to the Top 20, where they were criticized by the judges for trying to do too much, but not the Top 10. In May 2008, bandleader Giovanni James would be profiled in The New York Times in an article titled "Steampunk Moves Between 2 Worlds," for the aesthetics defining his career and lifestyle.

The definition of steampunk "is loose enough to accommodate a stew of influences, including the streamlined retro-futurism of Flash Gordon and Japanese animation with its goggle-wearing hackers, the postapocalyptic scavenger style of “Mad Max,” and vaudeville, burlesque and the structured gentility of the Victorian age. In aggregate, steampunk is a trend that is rapidly outgrowing niche status," fashion and style reporter Ruth La Ferla wrote.

"The Harlem James Gang are a Neo Vaudevillian performance troupe that fuse current music with older classic sounds from the 20’s right through to the 60’s creating a fresh original sonic landscape. THJG are magical entertainers whose live shows include singing original songs, dancing, riding unicycles & performing magic."

• Identifying itself as “perhaps the most recognizable steampunk band,” Abney Park performs what it calls “music for a vintage apocalypse.”
• In its repertoire are fresh renditions of vintage songs from the turn of the last Century and original songs inspired by the inventors Tesla and Theremin.
• The sound is described as “moody, vintage, beautiful” featuring “Gypsy beats” and “crunchy guitars”
• Previously labeled as “goth” for lack of a better term, adopted the steampunk flag in 2004.
• Its sense of fashion is “neoVictorian” and conjures “post-apocalyptic airship pirates” replacing black with brown and silver with brass.
• All instrumentation is “hand motted.”
• “This DIY attitude and the practice of taking modern objects and modifying them with a Victorian aesthetic is the very heart of steampunk.”

--from a short video posted to YouTube Oct. 23 by the band titled “The Steampunk in Abney Park."

Mario Marchese describes his interactive art as:

“an experiment of motion, sound, computers, mechanics, electronics, and automation. A large amount of found and salvaged objects have made their way into the pieces, which reflect a mixture of vintage nostalgia and cutting-edge technology. From the simplicity of wind-up toys to the intricacy of sensors and microcontrollers, the techniques represent a progression though various forms of interaction between an audience and the art.”

*Above, Marchese demonstrates his art at the Greater Carbondale Arts Alliance Soiree at City Hall, Carbondale, Pa, March 2009. PHOTO BY ALICIA GREGA.

Just how mainstream is Steampunk?

Consider these stylish furnishing you can purchase for your Sims on Electronic Arts' Sims 3 video game for PC.

In addition to restyled electronics and anachronistic paperweights, the game designers have also created a while fashion line for men and women.