Some folks are declaring Steampunk dead, I never thought it was that “alive” or that popular to begin with outside a very small group… only that there were (and are) a lot of interesting projects with high quality implementations all making their bedut in the last year or so. Unlike other genres Steampunk, when executed well, requires a ton of work, milling, brass, engineering – it really is “technology and romance” — so with all that being said I’m willing to say that maybe tech blogs out there are getting tired of Steampunk, so I’d like to introduce what I think will be next “Circus punk” – it’s like Steampunk in some ways, but it’s a bit more colorful, more freaky human elements involved, side show cyber freaks, creepy clowns, bicycles, puppets, lots of human powered things, lots of craft costumes with tons of stripes (and top hats). More of an evolution of Steampunk, not really a revolution. The only real evidence I have is more and more techies and makers taking circus training classes, likely to trickle to projects soon.
Check back here in a year and see if I guessed correctly! It’s either that or “Space noir” or as I like to call it “Space goth”…
Pictured here, Cycle Circus from Maker Faire Austin.
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