I’ve just received the sad news that Dieselpunks, a partner website of The Gatehouse, is closing down later this month.
Our friend Tome Wilson, who started the site seven years ago (it’s been that long!) writes that when he created Dieselpunks, his mission was to gather a global artistic community that could one day advance dieselpunk as a legitimate style of art.
“In those early days, Dieselpunks served a vital purpose in the community,” he writes.
I and my friends set aside sleep and sanity to progress the grand mission. We wrote thousands of articles and lectures hoping to crystallize our dreams. Later, we gathered dieselpunks at live events, facilitating relationships that stand true to this day.
Dieselpunks grew into the largest online community for dieselpunk aficionados. I expect many readers of The Gatehouse visited regularly.
Now the growth of social networks “has outpaced our revolution,” writes Tome, and dieselpunk artists are multiplying in the wild.
Where I once saw a motley of DIY musicians, cosplayers and amateur filmmakers, I now see the pilots of an entire genre emerging into pop culture. We’ve become a crowd culture decentralized from a formal structure, and to this end, I feel my mission is complete.
All the same, we are sad to see the site go. We hope Tome is right about where dieselpunk culture is headed and wish him all the best!