Form & Genre
Puppetry
Category
In performance, what separates puppets from art objects, or curios hung on a domestic or art gallery wall, is the puppeteer or performer’s ability to manipulate the object and thus bring it to ‘life’.
Video
A film following the street performance Anabasis in Peru. It was an itinerant performance, based on exploiting the connections between the actors and the spectators who they encounter on their way.
Video
Battle of the Pyramids was a robotic performance installation featuring reconfigured Elmo toys performing military manoeuvres in rigid choreographed formations. This seminal artwork explored and used sensor and wireless communication to create clusters of entities moving in exact synchronisation in response to a call to arms. The robot's movements emulated the rigid and postured fighting strategies of Napoleonic warfare. These strategies, employed in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, were particularly idiosyncratic in Egypt where they were persistently performed without consideration of either the desert environment or the fighting strategies of the enemy. The work is a testimony to the tragic consequences of imperialism and the dangers, follies and sadness of a rationale for blind obedience that makes victims out of warriors. The piece was exhibited at Light Industries in Theater of Code curated by Christiane Paul in 2008. It was funded by the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center and Professional Staff Congress CUNY Research Grant.
Video
Camouflage Town is a pioneering telerobotic artwork. Camouflage Town is a decoy town constructed for the practice of military manoeuvres, war, and other scenarios of high drama. The robot, named "Kiru" , lived in the first-floor lobby and gallery of the Whitney Museum. As a telerobot, Kiru allowed remote visitors to communicate with physical visitors in the space. Remote visitors controlled the robot’s locomotion, pan, tilt and zoom of its camera over the web and spoke to museum visitors via text to speech and heard their responses. When autonomous, the robot relayed its history as the Librarian of Juxtapositions in Camouflage Town. This piece was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in DATA DYNAMICS curated by Christiane Paul in 2001. It was funded by the National Science Foundation Award, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Robotics and Theater, Robotic Renaissance Project and NSF Gateway Engineering Education Coalition at Cooper Union.
Video
Reflections on Ki Manteb Soedharsono’s video rendition of the famous Javanese shadowplay Dewa Ruci (‘The Resplendent Deity’).
Video
This video presentation features playwright and director Oriza Hirata’s
concept of robot theatre. Making Robot Theatre: An interview with Oriza Hirata of
Tokyo-based Seinendan.
Video
Video
The performance marks the occasion of the coronation of the Dutch King William Alexander and Queen Maxima. Jan Klaassen and Katrijn are the Dutch branch of European traditional hand glove puppetry which started with Pulcinella in Italy in the 17th century. Many countries have developed their own traditions, such as Punch & Judy in the UK, Polichinelle in France, Kasperl in Germany, Petroucka in Russia and Don Roberto in Portugal. Frans Hakkemars has given the Dutch tradition a modern twist by placing the booth on top of the front wheel of a bike, so he can replace the booth very easily to perform outside or inside. During the performance he performs around the booth and the bike. In the main part he is sitting on the bike saddle performing Jan Klaassen and Katrijn. He uses modern props, such as a shopping cart and also enacts the essential rude fights in comic and rhythmic percussion with a tyre inflator for Jan Klaassen and a dish brush for Katrijn. Interaction with the public is an essential part of each performance.
Video
NoMad is an Island is an interactive robotic installation from the 1997 Ars Electronica Festival.
Video
Sayonara Diorama is an electronic multimedia performance and original play with robots, live actors, video and remote participants.
Video
Tableaux Vivant Dans Un Monde Parfait was an interactive robotic installation. The work featured stereotypical “his” and “her” robots, directed by onsite users, which roamed a model home on the site of a factory manufacturing prefabricated homes in Brandenburg, Germany. The work was exhibited at Areale99 in Art in the Industrial Sector in 1999.
Commentary
by McPherson, Katrina
Related Items
Practitioner
Phillip Zarrilli, Professor of Drama at Exeter University, is internationally known for training actors using a psychophysical process combining yoga and the Asian martial arts, and as a director.
Category
Masking or decorating the body has always featured in performance, from ancient rituals to Greek theatre, circus clowns and commedia dell’arte to the make-up that turns Broadway performers into cats.