An Automaton Of Elegance, Horror and Beauty
Posted by John Brownlee
In its decrepitude and girlish excellence, both a nightmarish automaton and a creation of soul-shaking beauty. Her mottled leather skin reveals her skeleton and her eyes horribly stare, but when the key in her spine is wound, she nods her porcelain head and her fingers delicately pluck at the imaginary strings of a harp cradled in her arms. She is a precious testament to the delicate ingenuity of man. She breaks my heart.
Automaton Harpist by Vichy [YouTube] : Bruce Sterling
Categories: Art, Automatons, Clips, Ephemera, Music, Robots
Posted at 11:09 am on October 9, 2007
7 Comments -
I really need to cut back on the video games. First thing I thought of when I saw it was Bioshock’s Little Sisters…
Comment by Robert — October 9, 2007 @ 11:23 am
Funny, the first thing I thought of was how I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight what with the image of a creepy, doll-headed robot coming after me with its unblinking, Godless eyes. The soundtrack to my manic break will be soothing, shit-your-pants weird harp music.
Comment by SpaceMonkeyX — October 9, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
I Liked It…It Made Me Sad because It Reminded Me Of A Sad Story I Read Recently About A Small Doll Girl. I thought It Was Beautiful…Maybe I’m Just Strange :(
Comment by Rune101 — October 9, 2007 @ 11:46 pm
It reminded me of one of the pics from that Chernobyl journal, with a doll that was left behind.. Sad, creepy, yet indeed, beautiful.
Comment by FiXXXer667 — October 10, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
This appears to be an 18th or 19th Century ‘automaton.’ This one probably used to be lighter-colored and wore clothes. It may have held a small harp. The Technical Museum in Munich has a considerable collection of these, some of which still work. Clock-makers in the pre-electronic age did some amazing work, which captured the popular imagination; see ‘The Tales Of Hoffman.’ Steam-punk isn’t pure fantasy, guys.
Comment by Mogo the mmoMugger — October 10, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
[...] Automaton Harpist by Vichy [Bruce Sterling, via Ectoplasmosis] [...]
Pingback by frankie23.com | viva la rudo — October 11, 2007 @ 2:26 am
Yuck.
Comment by Stacey. — October 12, 2007 @ 8:34 pm