Last weekend the annual street theatre festival Del Mundo was held at the Maasmechelen Leisure Valley in Belgium. At three different location dozens of artists from all around the globe, all very different kinds of performers, were present to entertain visitors with their acts. The Steampunk Objective was invited to do their thing on the street that is the Maasmechelen Outlet Village.
I’m not joking, it basically is a parking lot, a cinema and then a street with houses along both sides of it which is home to some restaurants, facilities and outlet stores of posh brands, with a playground at the end.
It was at this location that, for several hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoon they gave the best they had to offer to bring steampunk closer to the people. There were acts to entertain children, free face paint for kids, a herbologist cleansing the street with sage, steampunk witches and of course the amazing steampunk bicycle and the One Man Airship as well as steampunks walking down the street displaying their outfits in various styles, showcasing the diversity of the movement in a marvelous way, and simply being there to answer questions from the public.
While of course some people were less than impressed as steampunk was simply too far out of their comfort zone, as is the case with these main stream events, the majority though was either quite pleased with the presence of The Steampunk Objective because it gave them something interesting to look at and photograph, or genuinely and respectfully interested.
And hopefully the steampunks present managed to get a couple more people interested in the movement.
In any case it was a lovely event, the weather was nice and steampunks present had a great time doing their thing and interested visitors had a great time watching them or interacting with them. Hopefully The Steampunk Objective will be invited back for next year’s edition and more people will be able to come see them in action in a mainstream and most importantly, free, setting because it’s a great opportunity to bring the movement to people that were unaware of it, and when it comes to promoting steampunk, The Steampunk Objective does a great job.
More photos can be found right here on Flickr.
