Steampunk is one of the more peculiar genres to mutate out of Neo-Victorianism. Although tethered to an aesthetic idea of the past, it has severed any link to authenticity, freely reinventing and repurposing Victorian technology and culture in order to imagine a counter-factual world of hybridity and playfulness. Ranging across media from film to fashion, literature to design, its identity is fluid but unmistakable. But do these impossible pasts and futures tell us something about our present reality?

Programme
1.00-1.15: Welcome

1.15-2.45: Panel discussion: Steampunk: remaking the past and the future
Jeanette Atkinson – ‘Top Hats, Corsets and Tea Duelling: the Well Mannered World of Steampunk’
Tony Venezia – ‘Science and Monsters:  A Guide to Steampunk Comics’
Anna Powell – ‘Mixing the Planes in Hellboy’

2.45-3.45: Viewing of the exhibition

3.45-4.15: Q&A with Steampunk artist Ian Crichton (aka Herr Döktor) and Guildhall curator Katty Pearce

4.15-4.45: Discussion of the exhibition

4.45: Closing remarks and thanks

This symposium is free to attend but please reserve a place using our online booking form found here:http://www.bbk.ac.uk/events-calendar/steampunk-a-symposium

This event forms part of our Victoriana series, which includes an exhibition and film screenings - see full details here: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/news/victoriana-the-art-of-revival-exhibition-and-film-series