The Machine Anxieties of Steampunk: Contemporary Philosophy, Victorian Aesthetics, and the Future

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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 todays technology-driven world. It expresses optimism for the future but it also delivers a note of caution about our human role in light of the ubiquitous machine. Thus, despite adopting an aesthetic and lifestyle straight out of the Victorian scientific romance, steampunk addresses significant twenty-first 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.

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The Machine Anxieties of Steampunk provides a fascinating insight into the contemporary art movements relationship to current thinking and major philosophical trends. Importantly, it brings to focus the struggle of todays individual as she navigates our complex and technologically networked world. Kathe Albrecht reveals that steampunkegalitarian, inclusive, optimisticoffers a bridge to the future. It is only when we open up the traditional art history canon, as Albrecht does here, that we can forge a path forward that recognizes the contributions of all. * Susan Fisher Sterling, The Alice West Director, National Museum of Women in the Arts, USA *
Kathe Albrechts book opens our eyes to a whole new field of philosophical and aesthetic inquiry, and marks a significant turn in the current debates concerning the future of Homo sapiens. * George Smith, Founder and President, and Edgar E. Coons, Jr. Professor of New Philosophy, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, USA *

Author Bio

Kathe Hicks Albrecht is a philosophy, aesthetics, and art theory instructor at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, USA. She has taught in the college classroom, educational seminars, and professional workshops. Her work on educational issues is broadly published and has appeared in Art Documentation, MCN SPECTRA, Getty Institute Publications, among others.