VSE III –Thank You!

Well that's another year under our belt and wow was it ever fabulous! The room was a beautiful backdrop to all the wonderful art installations, and extraordinarily talented vendors, and of course the incredibly well dressed participants.

The schedule was jam packed with engaging speakers and presenters including a Steampunk roundtable with Ann & Jeff Vandermeer, Captain Robert Brown, Kaja Foglio, The Airship Ambassador, and Jordan Stratford that was pretty amazing. There was another Theremin performance and we managed to pull a fashion show together on Sunday after all.

One of the things I like most about Steampunk is the collaboration, and that was definitely a strong theme with this years show. There were constant conversations about working together and creating something BIGGER. MORE art in general, and to me that's just about the best thing in the world.

MORE collabs. MORE art. BIGGER!

Chai-Cycle by James McIntyre and Toni Green

The Cabaret Burlesque evening was magnificent with incredible performances by Miss Cherry Poppins, captivating musical stylings by The Tailor and an exceptional high energy performance by Bucan Bucan –Such an amazing night, a huge THANK YOU to all the performers for dazzling us with your talents!

Bucan Bucan

There are plans in the works about bringing in a certain band later this year as a stand alone event... but more details on that as it happens.

Some guy playing the Theremin by Eric Reiswig :)

And lastly, HUGE thanks to all our wonderful volunteers who worked tirelessly to make everything run smoothly. We couldn't do this without your help and we're truly grateful for everything you've done to make VSE another success!

More photos of the event are available via our facebook group and on Flickr.

I'll edit this post in a day or so to include links to all the wonderful VSE artists, panelists, and vendors.

Thank you for being marvelous!

-ZS

Raven by Randie Feil

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Victoria Steam Expo the Third.

Steampunk is the collision of history, technology, imagination, and attitude. Nineteenth-century sensibilities with impossible Jules-Verne-inspired technology. Teak-panelled computers, corsets and jetpacks, top hats and rayguns.

April 20th to 22nd, 2012, for the third year in a row, Victoria, British Columbia, will host an art-happening of steampunk art, tech, fashion, music, architecture, and story.

“Amongst all the beautiful places in the world, and I think I have seen the most beautiful of them, Victoria ranks the highest.” – Rudyard Kipling, 1889

Kipling was the paragon of the Victorian adventure-storyteller, so how fitting that this year's Victoria Steam Exposition returns to the magnificent 1904 granite palace of the Empress Hotel (In the Kipling Room, no less), a monument to the exuberance of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Its endless panelling, cut glass, brass sconces and chateaux rooflines lend the perfect backdrop to absinthe-inspired imaginings of time-travel and airship pirates. A National Historic Site, The Empress has hosted kings and queens, smugglers and inventors, explorers, artists, and Kipling himself.

The show's literary headliners this year are Hugo Award winner Ann Vandermeer, and The Steampunk Bible's Hugo and Nebula nominee Jeff Vandermeer; Abney Park's Kristina Erickson and Captain Robert Brown, author of The Wrath of Fate.  Our featured artist is Ian Finch Field, who's incredible leather and brass creations have been featured in 1000 Steampunk Creations and international music videos.

The $50 weekend pass gives you access both Saturday and Sunday to steampunk jewelers, tinkerers, corsetieres, milliners, leather and glassworkers, artisans and anachronists. Additionally there are continuous panel discussions on costuming, history, literary readings, and prop-making.  Your weekend pass also  admits you to the Saturday Evening Steampunk Cabaret Burlesque, a dance party to the haunted gypsy folk antics of Tarran the Tailor and the boisterous Bučan Bučan.

The Friday Night Absinthe Tasting and History Presentation is at the Union Club, a private (formerly gentlemen-only) institution founded in 1879, and still bears the wingbacked-leather-chair atmosphere as in its founding year.  Visitors can easily imagine the wager which began Around the World in 80 Days being placed in exactly this sort of environment.  Tickets are an additional $50 for Friday evening's festivities, which includes a flight of three absinthes, a history lecture on its culture and appreciation, and a tour of the club's magnificent 1884 architecture.

Not your typical "con" or convention, the Dominion of Canada's premiere steampunk event, VSE III is more intimate; a living art-show with evocative venues, and more oriented around conversation and sharing in an authentic Victorian atmosphere.

Tickets are now available for both the Absinthe Tasting ($50) and the Weekend Pass ($50).

*Please note: Children under 13 are free when accompanied by a ticketed adult and you must be 18+ to attend the Cabaret Burlesque.

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