KOLK 17: A new cultural institution for puppet theatre emerges

KOLK 17 Puppet theatre & museum

KOLK 17 stands for entertainment of a high artistic level – for everyone.
KOLK 17 stands for openness and diversity.
KOLK 17 shares knowledge.

Exhibition

Who’s Talking?
Six Artistic Views of the KOLK 17 Collection

The project “Who’s Talking?” opened the door to an artistic exploration of the KOLK17 collection. Six artists from African, Asian and European countries turned their gaze on the collection and developed their personal response to self-chosen puppets. The resulting views are now revealed in the virtual exhibition “Who’s Talking? Six Artistic Views of the KOLK 17 Collection”.

The exhibition consists of six rooms in which six featured artists can be found and six meta-rooms with conceptual fields that become important over the course of the project. The meta-rooms are currently only available in German. However, you can download the English translation as a PDF.

Puppet Theatre and Museum?

What makes KOLK 17 so special?

From the Museum of Theatre Puppets Luebeck and the Puppet Theatre of Luebeck we have created a single institution: Kolk 17 Puppet Theatre and Museum.
Here two active institutions dedicate themselves to the art form of puppet theatre and it’s many aspects.
Hand in hand, the puppet theatre and the museum will take the next step in their intensive cooperation. 

KOLK 17 Puppet Theatre & Museum is unique in that it combines a collection of over 20,000 exhibits with a permanent theatre.

Kolk 17
FOR CHILDREN

Mediation

EDUCATION & MEDIATION

At the centre of our outreach work is the combination of practical theatre pedagogy and the imparting of knowledge about historical puppet theatre. Our academics from the fields of theatre studies, art history, ethnology, cultural studies and architecture, as well as active puppeteers, develop and supervise the extensive educational programme at KOLK 17.

The programme includes public tours tailored to specific themes, offers for groups, for school classes of different grades as well as for dementia patients and also thematically selected performance series’.

Puppetry Blog

How should we actually name it …

Puppet theatre? Figure theatre?
Or Object theatre?

All the terms are up for debate, as if art, religion, theatre, play crosses (the wooden crosses used to control some puppets), paper, threads, lime wood, fabrics, projections and digitality were discussing the subject amongst themselves.

The row of marionettes, hand, rod and table theatre puppets, masks, shadow plays and animated objects are now joined by large and small robots…and of course by the puppeteers themselves. All are eager to perform… curious as to what will happen. Today, creativity and the imaginations of those involved are developing the once familiar craft further.  New, unforeseen productions are emerging time and again… The playful animation of material allowing a puppet to emerge, through the art of acting with the puppet oneself – or by watching the animation and understanding it, letting it tell it’s story.  We are on the hunt: Where is the puppet looking, what does it see, what is it planning, what does it feel….and, what is about to happen?

Through these eyes of the puppet, of the counterpart that one has brought to life oneself, one can perceive one’s own humanity. The term puppet theatre comes from this animation. When the animation ends, what remains is perhaps a sculpture, material, memories and experiences. This is where the museum’s questions and perspectives begin: What knowledge, thought and dream spaces do objects in the collection inspire? how can they be conceptualised and how do they and questions arising from them relate to the present day?