My personal project will take the form of an installation piece, incorporating puppets, or traveling puppet company.
As I was going through all the exhibits I found myself drawn to all the puppets and puppet imagery. The abstraction of the human form lends itself so well to theatre, one is able to create a character from scratch – without regards to an actors own body.
I am interested in bringing the viewers into a new world, totally immersed in the aesthetic and visual content to this new world. In here they will encounter the puppets, or inhabitants of this world.
This style of theatre and visual art occurred numerous times in the National Exhibition. I loved how the installations surrounding small works of art lent itself to creating a stronger dialogue between the artists and the viewers. The art was no longer behind a frame, or on a stage, instead you entered the world, you were there able to touch, smell, feel, and sometimes even taste the various elements of this created world. When inside these active installations you felt a part of the piece. You were no longer a viewer, but an active participant.
This type of interactive, environmental theatre is what I am really interested in now, and I very much hope puppetry will come into my next project as an added element.