This fantastic short animation by Adrien "CaYuS" Toupet, Clément Delatre & Looky is a perfect gem of revolutionary naivete, dystopianism and art noveau design.
The story of a revolutionary poster artist who designs Alphonse Mucha inspired agitprop, this five minutes is better than any full length steampunk film.
And it uses a design premise which it too often associated with the non-industrial - Art Nouveau.
Art Nouveau was inspired by what the machine would allow society to produce. Born beside mass production, this art form shunned the idea of a single craftsman for the utopian dream of human ingenuity paired with technology and new materials. Art Nouveau wasn't an art movement that coddled the artist and kept them in the past, but a basis of thought that questioned what was possible and strove the designer to innovate.
Sure, the character Cheri draws the product by hand, but by hooking her mind up to the steam-powered fabricator, she is using high technology and bypassing the one-off construction. She uses the tools of oppression to creat her art, and later die for it.
Before I sound too bolshi, the steam guns of the armoured police rock. And the thought of industrial wastelands lurking in the heart of Hausmann-like city blocks has a strong Mieville-like feel.
This film feels revolutionary.
It feels real.
And it leaves me wanting more of this story.
La Main des Maîtres
Interview with La Main des Maitres Team
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