The Machine Anxieties of Steampunk

Contemporary Philosophy, Victorian Aesthetics, and the Future

Kathe Hicks Albrecht (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

248 Seiten

2021
Bloomsbury Visual Arts (Verlag)
978-1-5013-4932-4 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

What is steampunk and why are people across the globe eagerly embracing its neo-Victorian aesthetic? Old-fashioned eye goggles, lace corsets, leather vests, brass gears and gadgets, mechanical clocks, the look appears across popular culture, in movies, art, fashion, and literature. But steampunk is both an aesthetic program and a way-of-life and its underlying philosophy is the key to its broad appeal.

Steampunk champions a new autonomy for the individual caught up in today’s technology-driven society. It expresses optimism for the future but it also delivers a note of caution about our human role in a world of ever more ubiquitous and powerful machines. Thus, despite adopting an aesthetic and lifestyle straight out of the Victorian scientific romance, steampunk addresses significant 21st-century concerns about what lies ahead for humankind. The movement recovers autonomy from prevailing trends even as it challenges us to ask what it is to be human today.

Kathe Hicks Albrecht serves on the National Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a presidential appointment, and is a faculty member at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). Albrecht has represented educators on many national and international boards including the Visual Resources Association, Digital Future Coalition, National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH), and the US Commerce Department’s Conference on Fair Use (CONFU). Albrecht holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Art Theory (IDSVA), a Masters, Art History (American University), and Bachelors, Art History (UCLA).

List of Plates
List of Figures
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Origins of Steampunk: Science Fiction and Victoriana
2. The Victorian/Steampunk Connection: Upheaval, Discovery and the Birth of Modernism
3. The Steampunk Aesthetic in Contemporary Visual Art
4. Performing Steampunk
5. Steampunk’s Challenge to Contemporary Philosophy
6. Beyond Steampunk

Notes
Bibliography

Erscheinungsdatum	03.12.2021
Zusatzinfo	18 colour and 17 bw illus
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	714 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Allgemeines / Lexika
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Kunstgeschichte / Kunststile
ISBN-10	1-5013-4932-5 / 1501349325
ISBN-13	978-1-5013-4932-4 / 9781501349324
Zustand	Neuware