Contact: Laura Jury, Marketing Manager
(302) 658-2400 ext. 238
ljury@hagley.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Advisory: Steampunk Sculpture Being Installed at Hagley
Media invited to meet the creator of the Velocipede Time Machine
Wilmington, Del. (April 20, 2021) – A thousand-pound Steampunk sculpture called the Velocipede Time Machine, designed by Bruce Rosenbaum, Re-Imagineer and founder of ModVic art and design studio, is ready to be installed at Hagley Museum. The sculpture will make the nearly 300-mile journey from Massachusetts to its permanent location in Delaware.
Delivery and assembly of the Velocipede Time Machine will take place Monday, April 26, to Wednesday, April 28, in the lobby of Hagley’s Visitor Center located at 200 Hagley Creek Road, Wilmington, DE 19807. Hagley invites members of the media to meet the artist and receive a sneak preview of the completed sculpture on Wednesday, April 28 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Appointments are requested by contacting Hagley’s Marketing Manager Laura Jury at ljury@hagley.org. Phone and virtual interviews are available for those who cannot visit in person.
The kinetic sculpture will greet visitors in the lobby of Hagley’s Nation of Inventors exhibition, which is scheduled to open in the fall. The exhibition celebrates American invention and innovation, inspired by Hagley’s collection of more than 5,000 patent models from the nineteenth century. These miniature models, originally required to demonstrate utility by those submitting for a U.S. patent, exemplify American ingenuity as inventors found solutions to problems during a time of rapid urbanization and industrialization.
Rosenbaum works from a converted gothic church in Palmer, Mass., that was featured in the Netflix series Amazing Interiors ("Steampunk Wonderland," S1, Ep8). He was inspired by three patent models that will be included in Nation of Inventors. “As part of Steampunk design, I fuse history + art + technology, and use the invention/creative problem solving process to come up with ideas, concepts, designs for fabrication and installation.”
Bruce’s creative process worked backwards. “For the new Nation of Inventors,” he explains, “I wanted to show the process of what it’s like to invent and build a U.S. patent model and the real thing. We actually worked in reverse because we came up with the design on paper and started to build the Velocipede Time Machine instead of beginning with the small-scale model.”
True to the Steampunk movement, which mixes Victorian-era art, fashion, and innovation with futurist concepts, Rosenbaum combined old and new with materials and fabrication. The sculpture includes sewing machine parts and pieces, an early 1900s dental chair, 1890s bicycle handles, and other mechanical parts. During fabrication, computer-controlled and bending machines were used along with traditional design methods like blacksmithing.
"We are very excited to have Bruce's work at Hagley," said Executive Director Jill MacKenzie. "The Velocipede Time Machine will serve as a wonderful and inspiring introduction to our new Nation of Inventors exhibition when it opens this fall."
About Hagley Museum and Library
At Hagley, we invite people of all ages to investigate and experience the unfolding history of American business, technology, and innovation, and its impact on the world, from our home at the historic DuPont powder yards on the banks of the Brandywine in Wilmington, DE. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org.
HAGLEY MUSEUM
200 Hagley Creek Road, Wilmington, DE 19807
HAGLEY LIBRARY
298 Buck Road, Wilmington, DE 19807