London, UK
Mission Title: Ye Olde Steampunks in Londontown
Mission By: Matteo Pizzarello, Annamaria Vacchelli
Mission Finished on Date: 07-06-2008
SCRIPT
- Go the party and document what you see there, especially evidence of subcultural style wherever you see it: in objects, clothing, décor, attitude, language, and cultural consumption.
- More importantly, meet with a practitioner of steampunk, learn their language, and style. Have them take you on a tour of a steampunk version of London. Find out what books and music, both inspire or developed out of the notion of steampunk.
- Find out whether it’s just an elaborate costume party by geeky fanboys or an authentic subcultural style.
- Tell a story about your trip, record your understanding of the scene as it develops, what conclusions do you come to. When you’re taping, think about how the footage will work in a narrative arc.
TRAVEL BAG
How does a subculture mix the retro with futurism?
With clank, boom, and steam, steampunk has rumbled out of the buried history of the streets of Victorian London into the twenty-first century. Born out of cyberpunk, Steampunk, or “Steam” as some of its devotees have shortened it, comes from the same rebellious attitude as cyber but rather than using technology to realize in the present a vision of the dystopian future, steampunks use modern technologies welded to Victorian style for a mode that’s more mechanical: brass and gears rather than rivets and motherboards. With advanced technology based on pre-modern design, the style features goggles and corsets, buckles and tattered petticoats. Steampunk is William Gibson in the world of Jules Verne.
As one blogger puts it, “I believe that Steampunk is more than just brass and watchparts. It's finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetically pleasing yet still punkish way. It's living a life that looks old-fashioned, yet speaks to the future. It's taking the detritus of our modern technological society and remaking it into useful things."
In London on June 7th, White Mischief is throwing a steampunk party, called “Around the World in 80 Days”…
