The Marvellous Mechanical Museum

The Marvellous Mechanical Museum
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 79
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN: 9781999965914

Step into Compton Verney’s Marvellous Mechanical Museum, a world which reimagines the spectacular automata exhibitions of the 18th century and invites us to explore the boundaries of what is lifelike and what is alive, where artists, inventors and engineers collide. Automata have always been fascinating to us. Throughout history they have represented the human condition and allowed us to view ourselves and raise questions about our existence. They have also entertained and amazed us with spectacular musical performances and simulations of life. (The Marvellous Mechanical Museum coincides with the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, who is believed to have seen the famous 18th century automata of Pierre Jaquet-Droz before bringing her own creation to life). This exhibition will include early and rare automata and clockwork dating back to the 17th century from collections such as The British Museum, V&A and Royal Collection alongside new commissions by contemporary artists exploring our current and often complex relationship with technology. From a miniature Faberge moving elephant to the uncanny 'Crimson Prince' by kinetic artist Tim Lewis, the exhibition also includes work by Sarah Angliss & Caroline Radcliffe, Ting Tong Chang, James Cox, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, Jane Edden, Rowland Emett, Ron Fuller, Fi Henshall, Rebecca Horn, Tim Hunkin, Peter Markey, John Joseph Merlin, Keith Newstead, Stuart Patience, Henry Phalibois, Harrison Pearce, Rodney Peppe, Sam Smith and Paul Spooner.

The River and Enoch O'Reilly

The River and Enoch O'Reilly
Author: Peter Murphy
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2013
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0547904770

When nine bodies are found after a series of floods devastates a small Irish town, self-made preacher and Elvis worshipper Enoch O'Reilly uncovers mythic links between the dead, a secret language, and his lost father.

Celebrating the Marvellous

Celebrating the Marvellous
Author: Neil Spiller
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2018-05-29
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1119254418

We are entering a new era of architecture that is technologically enhanced, virtual and synthetic. Contemporary architects operate in a creative environment that is both real and digital; mixed, augmented and hybridised. This world consists of ecstasies, fears, fetishisms and phantoms, processes and spatiality that can best be described as Surrealist. Though too long dormant, Surrealism has been a significant cultural force in modern architecture. Founded by poet André Breton in Paris in 1924 as an artistic, intellectual and literary movement, architects such as Le Corbusier, Diller + Scofidio, Bernard Tschumi and John Hejduk realised its evocative powers to propel them to 'starchitect' status. Rem Koolhaas most famously illustrated Delirious New York (1978) with Madelon Vriesendorp's compelling Surrealist images. Architects are now reviving the power of Surrealism to inspire and explore the ramifications of advanced technology. Architects' studios in practices and schools are becoming places where nothing is forbidden. Architectural languages and theories are 'mashed' together, approaches are permissively appropriated, and styles are not mutually exclusive. Projects are polemic, postmodern and surreally media savvy. Today's architects must compose space that operates across the spatial spectrum. Surrealism, with its multiple readings of the city, its collage semiotics, its extruded forms and artificial landscapes, is an ideal source for contemporary architectural inspiration. Contributors include: Bryan Cantley, Nic Clear, James Eagle, Natalie Gall, Mark Morris, Dagmar Motycka Weston, Alberto Perez-Gomez, Shaun Murray, Anthony Vidler, and Elizabeth Anne Williams. Featured architects: Nigel Coates, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Perry Kulper, and Mark West.

Cabaret Mechanical Movement

Cabaret Mechanical Movement
Author: Aidan Lawrence Onn
Publisher:
Total Pages: 136
Release: 1998
Genre: Kinetic sculpture
ISBN:

Making Automata is hard. Making other sorts of three dimensional objects can also be hard, but he extra dimension of movement seems to add a disproportionate amount of difficulty. For most people, especially those untrained in engineering skills, getting to the point where making making mechanical devices is easy, can be a long and frustrating task. Then again, there are many people who have a sound understanding of engineering but can't even draw a horse. These things can be learnt. This book does not teach you to draw a horse, but it removes the mystery that surrounds the world of mechanisms and the business of making things move. Cabaret Mechanical Movement contains a lot of theory but it is also packed with practical tips and ideas for making your own automata, moving toys, or mechanical sculpture.

Wonderland

Wonderland
Author: Steven Johnson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0399184503

“A house of wonders itself. . . . Wonderland inspires grins and well-what-d'ya-knows” —The New York Times Book Review From the New York Times–bestselling author of How We Got to Now and Extra Life, a look at the world-changing innovations we made while keeping ourselves entertained. This lushly illustrated history of popular entertainment takes a long-zoom approach, contending that the pursuit of novelty and wonder is a powerful driver of world-shaping technological change. Steven Johnson argues that, throughout history, the cutting edge of innovation lies wherever people are working the hardest to keep themselves and others amused. Johnson’s storytelling is just as delightful as the inventions he describes, full of surprising stops along the journey from simple concepts to complex modern systems. He introduces us to the colorful innovators of leisure: the explorers, proprietors, showmen, and artists who changed the trajectory of history with their luxurious wares, exotic meals, taverns, gambling tables, and magic shows. In Wonderland, Johnson compellingly argues that observers of technological and social trends should be looking for clues in novel amusements. You’ll find the future wherever people are having the most fun.

Minds, Bodies, Machines, 1770-1930

Minds, Bodies, Machines, 1770-1930
Author: D. Coleman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2011-04-11
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0230307531

It is during the nineteenth-century, the age of machinery, that we begin to witness a sustained exploration of the literal and discursive entanglements of minds, bodies, machines. This book explores the impact of technology upon conceptions of language, consciousness, human cognition, and the boundaries between materialist and esoteric sciences.

Cowgirls, Cockroaches and Celebrity Lingerie

Cowgirls, Cockroaches and Celebrity Lingerie
Author: Michelle Lovric
Publisher:
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2007
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN:

Museums may have a reputation for being boring, dusty and outdated but Michelle Lovric's new books crushes that stereotype and shows the fascinating, fun and sometimes frightening collections that are housed in the museums of today. There are museums devoted to Jell-O, liars, peanuts and the Dakota Dinosaur. From the Salem Witch Museum to Marvin's Marvellous Mechanical Museum, via the House of Terror, take a tour of the worlds most unusual collections.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Author: Brian Selznick
Publisher: Scholastic
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2015-09-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1407166573

An orphan and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy train station. He desperately believes a broken automaton will make his dreams come true. But when his world collides with an eccentric girl and a bitter old man, Hugo's undercover life are put in jeopardy. Turn the pages, follow the illustrations and enter an unforgettable new world!

The Sciences in Enlightened Europe

The Sciences in Enlightened Europe
Author: William Clark
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 586
Release: 1999-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780226109404

Radically reorienting our understanding of the Enlightenment, this book explores the complex relations between "englightened" values and the making of scientific knowledge. Here monsters and automata, barometers and botanical gardens, polite academics and boisterous clubs, plans for violent wars and for universal peace, are all relocated in the landscape of enlightened Europe. The contributors show how changing forms of discipline, machinery, and instrumentation affected the emergence of new kinds of knowledge; consider how institutions of public rate taste and conversation helped provide a common frame for the study of human and nonhuman natures; and explore the regional operations of scientific culture at the geographical fringes of Europe. Covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, both in the principal European countries and in areas peripheral to Europe, the book also includes ample illustrations and an extensive bibliography. Implicated in the rise of both fascism and liberal secularism, the moral and political values that shaped the Enlightenment remain controversial today. Through careful scrutiny of how these values influenced and were influenced by the concrete practices of its sciences, this book gives us an entirely new sense of the Enlightenment. -- from back cover.

Anna Letitia Barbauld: Selected Poetry and Prose

Anna Letitia Barbauld: Selected Poetry and Prose
Author: Anna Letitia Barbauld
Publisher: Broadview Press
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2001-09-24
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1770480706

At her death in 1825, Anna Letitia Barbauld was considered one of the great writers of her time. Distinguished as a poet and essayist, she was also in innovator in children’s literature, an eloquent supporter of liberal politics, and a literary critic of stature. This edition includes a generous selection of her poetry and the first comprehensive body of her prose in more than a century, with essays—some never before reprinted—on literature, religion, education, prejudice, women’s fashions, and class conflict.