We recently welcomed Martin Edwards of Automata Magazine to our Mechanical Making Space in Hastings. You can read the article here (full text below) and in the May-June 2024 edition. Automata Magazine is published 6 times a year and is well worth a subscription for any maker, collector or enthusiast. You can download the 2019 issues for free or subscribe here. The first 3 issues contain the full history of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre written by co-director, Sarah Alexander.
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre (CMT) has a strong claim to being the home of contemporary automata in Britain.
Through exhibitions and, more recently, workshops, it has introduced thousands of people to the art, inspiring enthusiasts and creating automatists. After years without a public-facing space, CMT now occupies a shop front in the seaside town of Hastings on England’s south coast.
On a chilly January morning I paid them a visit. I was shown around by Max Alexander, the daughter of Sarah Alexander who, with Lisa Finch, is codirector of CMT. Sarah took over the running of CMT from her mother, Sue Jackson, in 2013 and, in something of an automaton dynasty, daughter Max is heavily involved in running Cabaret Mechanical Theatre Learning as a Community Interest Company (CIC).
In the UK a CIC is a type of limited company designed to benefit the community rather than its shareholders. Company assets must be used for community benefit rather than profit, and the amount payable to shareholders is limited. Cabaret Mechanical Theatre Learning CIC (separate from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre) is a recently established community-interest company dedicated to teaching about automata and their construction. Besides offering in-person and online courses for enthusiasts of all ages, they offer outreach to schools and host groups of schoolchildren who learn to create their own moving sculptures.
The Mechanical Making Space is situated along Gotham Alley, a narrow lane popular with locals, which is heavily decorated with street art and contains studios and regular pop-up markets. Max explained that Hastings is an exciting center for creative activity and the CMT shop is owned by Hastings Commons, a community land trust that exists to provide community spaces and offices accommodation, and to enable projects promoting growth and development.
CMT’s shop window displays a couple of prized automata. The larger front room functions variously as a reception area, shop, office, classroom, communal workshop, and exhibition space, while the power tools in the back-room workshop are available for use only under supervision. The space also boasts a rather sumptuously appointed toilet, a consequence of its previous incarnation as a café!
CMT started life in Falmouth, England, where its original founder, Sue Jackson, ran a crafts shop. Automata by Peter Markey and Automata and kits for sale. Paul Spooner proved popular attractions and, in 1983, Sue formed Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in order to purchase, commission, and exhibit automata. The collection soon outgrew the shop and, in 1985, CMT moved to London’s Covent Garden, where it remained as a foremost center for the display and sale of contemporary automata until 2000.
Max is struck by the number of people who still fondly remember the Covent Garden site, but its closure due to rising costs meant that since 2000 CMT had no public space. In later years it organized touring exhibitions and online sales from an industrial estate near Hastings. The move to the shop front in August of 2023 offered the opportunity for a permanent exhibition space.
The exhibition space currently features a dozen or so automata from the CMT collection, including some famous and important pieces such as Paul Spooner’s How to Live no 17: Spaghetti and Allegory of Love, which visitors can activate by pressing a satisfyingly large red button. The display changes every three or four months.
For years the backbone of CMT activity has been to present automata exhibitions around the world, featuring selections from their own collection of some 160 pieces by familiar names such as Fi Henshall, Ron Fuller, Keith Newstead, Peter Markey, Matt Smith, Paul Spooner, and Carlos Zapata, as well as guest pieces. The COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted exhibitions across the globe but activity is rapidly recovering now.
Most automata are stored on-site and constitute an important and unique collection that even includes Ron Fuller’s pub from the 1989 “Ride of Life” installation, a theme-park- style ride that carried the viewer on a sofa through a bizarre series of rooms depicting everyday life. Never actually installed, and with only the pub surviving, the Ride of Life has acquired mythical status. Also undergoing behind-the-scenes maintenance is Keith Newstead’s epic spectacular Gormenghast (see AM, January-February 2021), recently returned from display in Falmouth and shortly to feature in a CMT exhibition in Truro from the beginning of April.
The new premises offer opportunities to expand public-facing activities, particularly workshops. For some time, CMT has offered online workshops, such as their popular Automata Tinkering Global Workshop, and can now accommodate these in person. Schools have attracted enthusiastic participants and offer a source of funding, but Max explained that CMT intends to expand the number, scope, and range of on-site workshops, incorporating various levels of expertise and possibly offering some courses targeted at specific skills or aspects of automata construction.
Repair and maintenance of the extensive collection is constantly ongoing at the site with the support of CMT patron and chief engineer Tim Hunkin. Visitors also have the opportunity to buy books, badges, plans, posters, cards, kits (including the famous CMT tinkering kit) and, of course, entire automata.
The Mechanical Making Space is well worth a visit for the opportunity to view some important and quirky automata, chat to staff, feel inspired, and maybe make a purchase. Visitors, however serious or casual, are welcome. Although the space is usually open 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, Max advises that it’s best to check before making a special trip, as occasionally it is closed due to workshops or the need to set up exhibitions. Open days also operate on some Saturdays and these are advertised on the CMT website.
Martin Edwards – Automata Magazine
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