History through a steampunk lens | The Salt Lake Tribune

The Leonardo • New exhibits probe the common ground of science and imagination.

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"Fantastic Fabrications: Marvels from an Invented Past," a new exhibit that will launch Friday, May 4, at The Leonardo, follows the adventures of the robot Boilerplate (sort of a tin Tintin or zinc Zelig) who finds himself turning up a historical crossroads.

Besides hanging out with Pancho Villa and charging San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt, Boilerplate, from the imagination of Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, risks severe oxidation to visit what appears to be the Great Salt Lake's historic icon Saltaire.

Boilerplate's exhibit is joined by two others that explore the thin line between science, art and imagination. Think Art—Act Science, a travelling exhibit seen in Zurich, Lucerne, Barcelona and San Francisco explores the art-tech connection in a more serious, and beautiful, vein.

At The Leo: 209 E. 500 South (Library Square) in Salt Lake City. More info at www.theleonardo.org