Steampunk is many things.

It's a school of science-fiction. It's a subculture. It's an aesthetic.

Aesthetic, as in art. Specifically, as in "A Cache of Kinetic Art: Simply Steampunk," an exhibit that opens at the Morris Museum on March 15 and runs through Aug. 11.

All manner of mad, marvelous gizmos, by 18 artists, are part of this Morristown art show: pieces with gears, cranks, cams and pressure gauges, pieces that move, pieces that light up, pieces that make noises. The key thing is: they all have to do something.

"It has to be in motion in one way or another," says the Morris Museum's Jeremie Ryder, who conceived the exhibit with the museum's Michele Marinelli. "Everything is a performance."

That, it turns out, is fast becoming a specialty of the Morris Museum.

In 2005, the 106-year-old museum acquired the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection: some 750 mechanical dolls, player pianos, music boxes and other "automata," most from the 19th century, that were the pride and joy of the late Murtogh D. Guinness, heir to the brewing fortune.

The permanent exhibit (only 150 pieces can be displayed at a time), has proven to be one of the museum's signature — and most popular — attractions. And it's inspired the museum curators to look further afield for art that is not content to sit quietly on a pedestal, or pose stiffly in a picture frame. Moving art. Kinetic art.

"You might say that as the years go on, we're more fully embracing the [Guinness] collection, and what it represents," says Ryder, conservator for the collection.

Steampunk fits this artistic mission perfectly — hand-in-19th-century glove.

So what is steampunk?

Steampunk, broadly speaking, is retro-futurism. But even that doesn't quite cover it.

"Even steampunks don't agree on the definition of steampunk," says Marinelli, curator of the Guinness Collection (she, Ryder, and artist David Bowman will be there to welcome visitors to the show's opening day, March 15, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.).

"Very broadly, it's a movement or subculture that can take place in a different time period," she says. "It's alternate history."

It began as a genre of science-fiction — a counter to "cyberpunk," the high-tech computer-geek stuff of writers like William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and Philip K. Dick, and familiar to film viewers from movies like "The Matrix."

Steampunk is low-tech. It's about valves, gears, cams, machine oil. It's the sci-fi world of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, but with a modern twist. Typically, it might be set in an alternate 19th century in which steam-powered computers help pilot brass-and-mahogany space ships. Think of movies like "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "Hugo," "The Golden Compass," or "Cowboys & Aliens" and you'll have the idea.

"Just as a joke, I coined the term "steampunk," writer K.W. Jeter, credited with naming the genre in 1987, told NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey two years ago. "That has pretty much become the de facto term."

In the last 32 years, Steampunk has blossomed into a large, and whimsical, subculture. Steampunks dress in Edwardian frock coats, bowler hats, and goggles (especially goggles), attend steampunk conventions, listen to steampunk bands, and go to steampunk art exhibits. Which is where the Morris Museum comes in.

"What we're doing, with this exhibition, is using some of the iconography of steampunk," Marinelli says. "With steampunk, pretty much anything goes."

The nuts, bolts, belts and gears of "Pterence, the Pteranodon" by David Bowman of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania are typically steampunk.

The valves, pressure gauges and crystal of "Messier," part of the Lumia Series by Will Rockwell of West Orange, are quirkily steampunk.

The dirigible "Flying Machine" of Ken Draim of Pittsburgh, is quintessentially steampunk.

"It's airships, submarines," Marinelli says. "Each steampunk decides on their focus. We're exploring a lot of different things in this exhibit."

The 18 pieces in this juried show were chosen out of 45 submissions; there will be a "people's choice" award bestowed on July 2.

"Simply Steampunk" is the second of four temporary kinetic art exhibits that are being staged in the museum, in association with the permanent Guinness collection. "Curious Characters" was last year's show; "Tiny Intricacies" (2020) and "Timeless Moments" (2021) will be the follow-ups.

Put together, and in tandem with the Guinness moving dolls and music boxes, they make the Morris Museum something like a national headquarters for kinetic art.

More:Mechanical figures mesmerize at the Morris Museum

More:Trenton arts festival will return in June, after mass shooting last year

More:For these local artists, New Jersey motel tax is their Medici

"A normal gallery-goer goes to New York and sees some wonderful artwork, but you're lucky to see one kinetic artwork, in one show, in one gallery," Ryder says. "To have this many works of kinetic art under one roof is unusual."

Art movements, moving art

Kinetic art is hardly new. But even in 2019, it's still a bit counter intuitive.

The silence of a statue, the stillness of a painting, is part of what — in the traditional view — makes it art. The viewer collaborates. Our minds provide the movement.

"Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss!" exclaimed the poet John Keats, thrilling to the eternally frozen scene of youth and maiden, caught pre-pucker, on a Grecian Urn. In the kinetic-art version, courtesy of a clockwork motor, boy would be kissing girl every seven seconds.

It wasn't until the 1930s that artists like Alexander Calder began to experiment with "mobiles." But others soon followed suit.

"These artists bring a fourth-dimension to their art," Ryder says. "They love going for the type of art that has a reveal, has a surprise, something that evolves in front of the viewer."

The nuts, bolts, cams and gears of the steampunk universe lend themselves perfectly to kinetic art. And throughout the run of "Simply Steampunk," there will be many special linked programs for those who want to take a deeper dive: "Tea and Treasures: Simply Steampunk, a Curator's View" (2 p.m. March 20), "Steampunk 101: Scorsese's 'Hugo' with Curator's Tour (1 p.m. April 7), Curator Tour for Upper Level Members (6 p.m. May 8), "Build an Automaton! Children's Workshop" (12:30 p.m. June 16), and "Last Look: Behind the Scenes of Simpy Steampunk" (6 p.m. August 8).

Still, Ryder has a confession.

None of the moving sculptures in the "Simply Steampunk" exhibit are actually steam-powered.

Some run by electricity. Some are hand-cranked. "Being a museum, and being indoors, it's a little difficult to operate a steam engine," Ryder says.

WHAT: "A Cache of Kinetic Art: Simply Steampunk"

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. second and third Thursday of the month. Exhibit runs March 15 to Aug 11.

WHERE: Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown. 973 971-3700 or morrismusem.org

HOW MUCH:$10 for adults, $7 for children and seniors.

Email: beckerman@northjersey.com; Twitter: @jimbeckerman1

More from Jim Beckerman

Beckerman:'Godfather' actor claims to know how Kennedy died, why Marilyn was killed

Beckerman:Paterson's Ralph Rodriguez featured in new movie about graffiti gangs

Beckerman:'Green Book,' this year's best picture winner at the Oscars, has deep North Jersey roots