WAYS - PUPPETS IN MOTION Moving Puppets
Nearly 2,000 figures from India sit in our shelves, display cases and storage. Some are fragile, some strikingly colourful, some barely researched. They came to Lübeck through collectors – through networks, travels, personal relationships. Exactly how, we often don't know. That's what we want to change.
Researching Together, on Equal Terms
Since May 2026, we have been part of WAYS, the funding programme of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) for fair and sustainable international partnerships. Fewer than 60 projects were selected nationwide – we are one of them.
What matters to us about this programme: it's not about a German museum explaining a foreign collection. It's about finding out together what these figures mean – for the people whose cultures they come from, and for us as the museum that holds them.
Our partner is Anurupa Roy from the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust in New Delhi. She is a puppet theatre artist, curator and one of the most important voices in contemporary puppet theatre worldwide. And she brings something no archive can replace: a living understanding of what these figures once were – on stage, in ritual, in everyday life.
What We Want to Find Out
Our Indian collection is the second largest in the house. Many figures came to Lübeck through the collector Fritz Fey jun. – made possible in part by the close ties his wife Saraswati Fey had to India. But between place of origin and display case there is often a story we don't yet know.
In the coming months, we will travel to India, hold conversations and workshops, and research together with Anurupa Roy and her network. What will we find? Where did these figures stand before they stood here? And how can we tell what we discover in a way that is accessible to everyone – not just specialists?
What Comes Next
At the end of the first funding phase, a "Roadmap of Collaboration" will be developed – not a final report, but a living document about how international cultural partnerships can work on equal terms. At the end of 2026, we will apply for the second funding phase, in which the research could develop into a multi-year project.
We'll keep you posted.
„Participation is already of particular significance at this early stage – because the programme explicitly focuses on the how of collaboration."
