Photo: One of Keith Newstead's creations for the Automata! exhibition. © Cabaret Mechanical Theatre

Automata! At Leamington Spa's Royal Pump Rooms until 25 August 2003, features a range of beautifully crafted and engineered mechanical devices by some of the leading automata artists in the UK.

Featuring the works of inventor/artists such as Keith Newstead, Paul Spooner, Matt Smith and Carlos Zapata, the exhibition comes under the auspices of the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre project, a moveable feast of contemporary automata creations based in Cornwall.

Photo: Head-off Anubis, Paul Spooner. Picture © Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

Sue Jackson, founder of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre said: 'We are delighted to be working with the Royal Pump Rooms on this new Automata! exhibition, it will give our UK visitors a chance to see some of their old favourite pieces as well as new work from Cabaret's artists'.

Visitors are treated to a range of automatons - all suffused with a trademark humour and an almost obsessive attention to detail revelling in the fusing of art with improbable and intriguing mechanisms.

Photo: just one of the winding mechanisms on display at the Pump Rooms. Picture © Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

Paul Spooner, the creator and builder of the piece based on the Egyptian Jackal headed God, Anubis describes his work in typically sanguine fashion: "My work as an artist / mechanic amounts to a constant pursuit of elegance and simplicity. I haven't caught up with either yet because I don't know how to finish things. Except sometimes. And even then I'm not sure."

Keith Newstead, whose automata donations box already resides permanently in the museum, creates similarly crazy inventions. His Flying Couch Potato manages to beguile and amuse in equal measure - a kind of anarchic combination of Wallace and Gromit and Heath Robinson.

Photo: Writers Cramp by Paul Spooner & Matt Smith © Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

Visitors to the Pump Rooms are invited to press the buttons and wind the handles to bring the mechanicals to life.

And with other highlights including the famous Spaghetti Eater (in the bath!), the Trainee Banana Ripener! and Columbian artist Carlos Zapata's vibrant moving figures there's plenty of pressing and winding to be done...