Banksy's Dismaland, 2015
I was fortunate enough to attend the Dismaland exhibition in Western-super-Mare this year. A piece that took me by surprise was a Puppet show [name unknown - to be updated] as I wasn't expecting Puppetry and Object Theatre to be used in this particular setting as in my experience it's very rare to come across the traditional notion of a Puppet being used in a contemporary Fine Art based exhibition.
The puppets were operated from above and each one [four in total] was fixed to the object below, therefore keeping it in place. This subsequently meant that each puppet could only make a 'jumping' movement. However doing this meant that a singular puppeteer could manipulate all four puppets at once. In the 'traditional' sense of Puppetry, I'd argue that using this particular method [connecting the puppet to a solid object below] prevented the character from formulating; I couldn't go beyond the fact that the puppet was simply an object because there was no real effort to suggest that the puppet was anything but an object. It made me realise that a puppet predominantly comes 'alive' when the puppeteer manipulates it and it is a vital, entirely essential component. Despite being pleasantly surprised to come across this piece, it did frustrate me because as a viewer who is interested in Puppetry I felt like this demonstration was somehow demeaning puppeteers who dedicate themselves entirely to their skill and their craft.
No comments:
Post a Comment