Steampunk adventures

Right now, in the fair city of oxford, one can find the most delightful history of science museum. And deep, nestled within its historical sciencey bosom lies the extraordinary exhibition of:


When i mentioned this exhbition to my dad, i was faced with the dilemna of having to explain what steampunk is. The concept is essntially modern victorian technology, and you've no doubt seen it in film, games, comics and the like. Imagine if technology had continued with its great advances but stayed in gorgeous mahogany cases, elaborate metal work, and wired with excessive piping with exposed valves and gears.

It actually took us a while to find. As you'd expect from two people who've worked at the ordnance survey, we misread the first tourist map, couldn't find anything on the second map and weren't sure where we were on the third map. Regardless, we stumbled on it eventually.


The exhibition wasn't massive, but high in quality. Here's my top picks. If you like these, i may post more as there is lots more. Please, please click and see them at their original size cos i made them all lovely and high res, just for you guys.

Firemans leather mask:


Fetishistic mask #2



'The steampunk man' was a lot of people's favourite by the seems:


A rearing spider. It has cogs in it and everything *shivers*



My second favourite (or possibly my favourite?) piece. What is it? a mechanical womb, complete with countdown timer.



These are actual working machines. they have candles inside that power the machines with hot air. There were several there but they weren't working. The artist has f***ing loads, but i thought this was the cutest.


This guy is straight from studio ghibli.

I love this guy, he's just so indie!

A working webcam (yes that is really me):



This is my favourite: the barnstormer, of course. It is literally too awesome for cameras. It is so detailed, the camera cannot focus on anything, so the pictures are pretty bad. Hence, may i refer you to the artists website, where you can see his other insane projects, including the mighty church tank and gertrude von howitzerhen.
Nevertheless, i am happy to dedicate a whole 1% of my massive picture space to this masterpiece. If you could see it better, among many other things, you'd see:

• 4 different sizes of people
• a reindeer
• a man with a cock on his head
• tools stashed on the side of the ship, including a spade, pickaxe and a crucifix
• a small man standing on a medium gun, or a medium man standing on a large gun
• a hollow horse
• a giant soldier with mechanical arms who is actually part of a tank
• what kinda looks like a flame thrower at the front
  
• a man having lunch in a jet cone
• small people sitting on the steps under the drivers feet
  
• at least 2 upside down horses
• a figurehead with guns for eyes

Well thats all today folks. /sigh now i gotta think of a title :(