Scene-Faust-Winterstage-©Fritz-Fey-jun-1997 The current issue of the magazine Puppetry International (published by UNIMA USA) is dedicated to the exciting topic of collections and collectors. It was a great pleasure for us to be able to present our collection from...
10 questions for the storyteller Lidwina Wurth
Storyteller Lidwina Wurth playing a pirate at KOLK 17 Figure Theatre & Museum © Thorsten Wulff Storyteller Lidwina Wurth KOLK 17: Dear Lidwina, in December it will be three years since you last guided our guests through our museum dressed as a pirate by...
Guided tour of the museum by torchlight: 10 questions for actor Achim Brock
Achim Brock is a storyteller and actor. From autumn 2014 to 2017, he enchanted our guests with guided tours by torchlight. In the dark, wintry part of the year, we, at the Puppet Theatre and Museum, Lübeck offered something special: by torchlight, Mr. Brock guided us...
Data, data, data or handouts for successful teamwork
While the renovation work in Kolk 14-22 continues, we as a team in the background are taking the opportunity to prepare for the opening of KOLK 17 Puppet Theatre & Museum planned for 2024. Part of this preparation involves gathering data. That sounds a bit dry....
The glass man from Schichtls fairytale “The cold heart”
Since the fifteenth century, the second of January has been a day of significance for the suspicious. It is called “Man of the forest” day and is most prominent in the regions of Hessen and Thuringen. It is believed that on this day foresters and others working in...
Our Marotte – The oldest item in the KOLK17 collection
French Marotte © Kolk17 These days, a Marotte is understood to be a more or less endearing idiosyncrasy, something about a person which is perhaps a little unusual but not necessarily in a negative sense, something which is perhaps not entirely normal and makes that...
Intangible World Heritage Site: Sogo bò The Appearance of Animals
What do elephants, lions, antelopes, hornbills, buffalo and hyenas all have in common? They are all animals that live in the savannah and light forests of Mali. They are also the main protagonists of the festivities that are celebrated annually by the Bambara, Bozo,...
Object of the week: Noble simplicity, quiet grandeur? Not with us!
Our Kasper shows his teeth - a broad grin on his face, which is the epitome of mischievous humour with bright red chubby cheeks and raised eyebrows. A wonderfully carved head, expressive and lively due to the care with which he was carved. The flashing teeth belong to...
Freshly arrived in our library: Puppetry international!
Freshly arrived in our library: Puppetry international! 'Puppetry international'. The puppet in contemporary theatre, film and media as it is called in full, is the journal of the US centre of UNIMA. Addressing all with an interest in theatre, art and culture, it’s...
What the Cookie Monster has to do with healthy eating…
The Cookie Monster eats fruit, vegetables and only occasionally biscuits Photo: RICHARD TERMINE © Sesame Street 17 June 2021 is Eat Your Vegetables Day. On this day, everyone should eat up their vegetables and give up sweets. That sounds very reasonable. But I don't...
Research in the Museum
This time in 'View into the Archive' we will be examining the diverse scientific work which takes place with regard to the collection. The KOLK 17 Puppet Theatre & Museum Lübeck operated for a long time as a private collector's museum where very little...
Karagöz Shadow Theatre – Intangible World Cultural Heritage since 2009
We, as KOLK 17 are dedicated to the performance based art of puppet theatre and are thus a special museum. We are particularly proud of the objects, whose art and play form are recognised as an intangible world cultural heritage. Around 250 pieces which can be...
How we found a Dragon’s egg in the attic!
Of course I, Urmel the dragon, was once a baby! I have been around a good long while though! Indeed, my egg lay in an iceberg with me tucked inside for a long, long time. My egg and I even travelled around with the iceberg to Titiwu and Lübeck. From time to time a...
Puppet theatre during the Nazi era
As object of the week we presented on Monday the Kasper (Punch) from the hand puppetry collection of the Reichsinstitut für Puppenspiel (Hitler's National Institute for Puppetry) as well as a rough outline of the plans for this institution in the future.A few years...
Puppet theatre on the front
War Front Puppet Theatre. War diary with photos On Monday we presented our object of the week - a puppet from a prisoner of war camp. This sounds a little unusual perhaps, however historical research has shown that puppet theatre was and is still performed by some...
10 Questions for Dr Antonia Napp, Director of the Museum of Theatre Puppets Lübeck
Dr. Antonia Napp took over as director of Lübeck's Museum of Theatre Puppets in autumn of 2015. She studied art history and Slavic studies in Freiburg and Vienna. Completing her doctorate in 2004 in Freiburg on 19th century Russian painting, she subsequently worked...
9 surprising uses of puppetry in film and television
Puppetry in Film and Television | Collage: KOLK 17 Puppet Theatre & Museum Our Sandman, Yoda from Star Wars, Captain Blue Bear, Ernie and Bert, Alf, the suitcase from the show Siebenstein or the Gelflings by Muppet creator Jim Henson all have something in common:...
Object of the Week: The Clown from the Prisoner of War Camp
The Clown, Marionette by Ernst Hummel, played by Walter Büttner, Aliceville ca. 1944 Our object of the week today has a very special story: the man in elegant tailcoat and striped trousers is dressed up as a clown. Despite the "make-up", you can see that the head is...
“Regelnull – Rule Zero” – a homage to Harry Kramer’s “The Sluice”
For a student discussion the Kunsthochschule Kassel, where Harry Kramer taught from 1971 to 1992, was, amongst others asked to assemble a tribute to Harry Kramer's 'Mechanical Theatre'. The animation class in the German city of Kassel was founded in 1979 and has since...
Pinocchio – The value of truth
"The value of truth" - this was the headline of the Süddeutsche Zeitung on the very first weekend of this new year: apparently there will be three new film adaptations of "Pinocchio" in 2021. Among other things, the stop motion film directed by Guillermo del Toro is...
Object of the Week: Buy Nothing Day!
28.11.2020 is Anti-Consumerism day. On this day, it is seen as important to try to reduce the amount of 'things' we buy. Funnily enough - the Friday before is the so-called "Black Friday", on which the money for many a tempting offer may already have been spent. If...
Object of the week: Punch as a recruit
Punch as a recruit: Puppet head by Harro Siegel for the Reichsinstitut für Puppenspiel, ca. 1940 Time of Remembrance - Punch as a recruit Punch - the comedy puppet - is an indispensable part of every hand puppet set. This Punch grins, has a long nose and yet: would...
7 puppets that give you the creeps…? Hmmm, good question!
I can't really specify 7 fear inducing things, because everyone is afraid of different things. I will admit though that it makes me shiver with delight to know that the thrill of the horror story is not real!It is said that watching horror movies even strengthens the...
Museum moments: dragon in the box
MuseumMoments is today’s motto of the MuseumWeek on twitter. Currently, a very typical occurrence during our museum work is this: Wait — Stop! Things are going differently to what we’re used to. And that’s how our dragon is looking as well — what do you mean, we’re...
Object of the week: Autumn – time to find mushrooms
I have gone in search of mushrooms: the humpbacked dove, the dark scaled knight or the yellowfoot, a witchesbutter or perhaps the fringed bulge in the company of a common Stinkhorn…? I couldnt find all of them. In fact,these mushrooms are said to be edible, despite...
Describing the condition of an objekt without losing one’s patience
Description of condition: Traces of life If the theatre puppets in our museum collection are "brought to life", e.g. because they are to be exhibited, they may be exposed to external dangers. For example, incorrect transport, light which is too bright, unfavourable...
Object of the week: Vocal wonders Spejbl and Hurvínek
Two well known puppets in the international puppet theatre scene are Czechoslovakian puppets; Spejbl and Hurvínek. Spejbl was designed by the Pilsener secondary school teacher Josef Skupa (1892 -1957) and carved by Karel Nosek in 1919/20; he was supposed to be a funny...
Object of the week: Museum in a suitcase
Dementia-friendly museum: The museum suitcase of the Museum of Theatre Puppets Lübeck. "I pack my suitcase and put inside..." is a memory game for at least two people. The first player begins with the sentence "I'm packing my suitcase..." and names an object that he...
10 questions for the painter Haiying Xu
10 questions to…our new series of interviews on the blog! Episode 1 with Haiying Xu. The Artist Haiying Xu We met Haiying Xu last year on the occasion of our beautiful joint exhibition "Far Worlds – Wide Dreams" at the St. Anne's Museum. From our collection we had...
What does inventory actually mean?
The definition of SPECTRUM, the internationally recognised professional standard for documentation practice, is"The compilation and maintenance of basic information that describes objects and formal identification. This may include information regarding the origin of...
This is what an animated film set looks like away from the camera
In 2013 the Museum of Theatre Puppets Lübeck and the Puppet Theatrem Lübeck jointly conceived the special exhibition modelling clay (putty), wire and camera - cartoons and puppet animation films. The film "Kater" was also part of the exhibition. Tine Kluth built an...
4. Object of the week
Today is the day of the towel; a must for all fans of Douglas Adams. Even if there’s reason to doubt that Fritz Fey sen. knew of this special day, this small, slightly anxious looking puppet from the bequest of the Theatre of Marionettes Lübeck is proof of his...
More pixels, more knowledge: Insights into photographic object documentation
In the column a look behind the scenes we’d like to grant insights into our scientific work and our daily tasks in the museum’s depot. Today is all about the photography of theatre puppets: photographic object documentation. One photo, many fields of application The...
3. Object of the week: Small but oho!
Still from the film "Prinz Ratte" (prince rat) © Albert Radl Sometimes things happen differently to what you had planned — Prince Rat, the hero of the corresponding stop-motion fairytale film from 2011 by Albert Radl knows a thing or two about that. The fact that the...
Throwback: Asia trip
Throwback: Travels to Asia It’s been seven weeks now, since the beginning of the exceptional situation due to the coronavirus pandemic; our own exceptional situation as a cause of the construction works at the museum has been going on longer than that even; we’ve been...
1. Object of the week: Lady bird
This is where, every Monday, we open the boxes in our depot and present to you our object of the week. Here, you’ll get to know which objects have moved or touched us, and which were just plain fascinating. This lady bird by Xaver August Jean Schichtl not only brought...
Beliebte Artikel im Blog
Get Punch out of the box
At the 6th Puppet Theatre Festival Lübeck, three...
What do Princess Henriette and Mephisto have in common?
Mephisto is from the play "FAUST" by Klaus...
Our article in the current Pupppetry International: Developing & Designing Knowledge Spaces For Puppetry
Scene-Faust-Winterstage-©Fritz-Fey-jun-1997 The...