Steam Punk exhibition in Oxford

The Steam Punk exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford was small but perfectly formed. I really enjoyed the show and now many ideas are running round my head - like a steam punk version of Thunderbirds for one.

You know - Thunderbird 1 is made out of rivetted bronze, Thunderbird 2 is a supersonic air ship and Thunderbird 3 is like the Nautilus from Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

This was my favourite, a Stirling hot air engine made by Jos de Vink in Holland. Stirling engines have featured on Engine Punk before (Nothing but hot air) but for transport purposes they aren't practical. However, for stationary work they're ideal. All they need is the slightest temperature or pressure difference to get their displacers fluttering. They run at a constant slow speed so could charge up a battery or generate hydrogen for all sorts of interesting uses. And when they look this good, they could be a show piece of your energy efficient home. They might need to be a bit bigger to power a family home, though - those on exhibition were about 50cm high.

I was also grabbed by the work of Stephane Halleux.

His stuff is full of humour and shows that the Edwardian look qualifies as Steam Punk as much as the Victorian stuff does. This helicopter coat is just the thing for the daily commute. I believe this form of transport wouldn't work but, somewhere in an alternative universe with different rules of physics, it might. And I want to go there, now.

But the lady on The Beauty Machine doesn't look too happy.

It's difficult to describe Steam Punk. I think you know it when you see it. The best description I've seen heard is high-tech with a Victorian aesthetic. That means cast iron, brass, rivets and leather - no plastic. Steam Punk celebrates technology. It doesn't hide it away behind the faceless facade of functionality.

What fascinates me is that Steam Punk began as a genre of science fiction that explored alternative history. It's such an attractive idea that it's crossed over in to art and design. There are even Steam Punk bands (a cross between goth rock and vaudeville as far as I can see) and Dark Garden Corsetry has recently unleashed its Dollymop line of fashion items. Didn't Balaam and the Angel wear something similar on stage back in the eighties?

I assume they know what a Dollymop is....

Speaking of Steam Punk and fashion, I thought the work of Professor Maelstrom (aka Amanda Scrivener) was great, too. Completely impractical, of course, but if a gentleman wants to make an impression at a Steam Punk party this would be just the thing.

The exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford was just the venue for a Steam Punk show. Here are exhibited many original artifacts that inspired the Steam Punk aesthetic - theodolites, microscopes, mineral assaying equipment, Brunel's sextant and working models of beam engines.

Heironymous Isambard "Jake" von Slatt, the proprietor of the Steam Punk Workshop, also made an interesting observation on Steam Punk on his site. He said Steam Punk harked back to the era of the gentleman (or lady amateur). These enquiring souls had private means and did inventing and research as a hobby. Without the constraints of time or money, they investigated what interested them with the finest tools available and appreciated craftsman ship more keenly than we do today.

Simone Cortez Gray sums up Steam Punk very well, too, who sites many of the Steam, Punk exhibitors in her article on Scribd.

The watches of Haruo Suekichi instantly qualify. Apparently he started with a design for watch for a one armed man. Think about it - you need two arms and two hands to strap a conventional watch to yourself.

And I also liked the Churchtank Type 7C of Kris Kuksi. Understandably, this delicate model was behind glass so I couldn't take any photos of it but you get the idea from his website. His other work is fascinating, too, and is very dark - almost mythical. "Jake" von Slatt has mentioned the influence of India and the Raj on contemporary Victorian culture and Kris Kuksi illustrates this best of all for me.

Has anyone brought Steam Punk into the world of transportation? Yes and my best example is Chicara Nagata who spend 7,500 hours or more on a single motorcycle. But what motorcycles they are!

Chicara Nagata usually wears shades because of all that chrome - if you watch the vid on Million Dollar Motorcycles you'll see why. They don't look like they work but they might do. They are definitely Engine Punk, though, and look like they're easily doing 100mph standing still.

The engines by Jos de Vink definitely do work so that's why they're my favourite from all the steam punk exhibits. I can see one in my living room, connected to a steam punk style fairground generator set. It would be just the back drop to a hot air soiree. Or even better, a laughing gas party.If you don't believe me watch the video. The Flying Saucer engine is kinetic art.

(For the more innocent among you a dollymop is a lady of merchantable virtue)