THE OTHER LIFE OF PUPPETS Collections from the Museum Reserves
Puppets have been a part of people’s lives since ancient times.
They are a form of communication across multiple cultures and all age groups, in small theatres, in rituals connected to the world of the gods, in several performances.
For many people, erudite or popular puppets, almost always traveling puppets, were the only form of contact with theatre. They told stories with divine or mundane subjects, conveyed social, political or religious criticism with humour, they informed, questioned, entertained.
And, one day, they stopped being used. Many were permanently lost, but others found a new stage: a Collection and a Museum.
Since it was founded in 2001 the Puppet Museum has developed a policy of acquisitions aimed at divulging multiple aspects of the history of puppets in several parts of the world.
Bought from artists and puppeteers, from collectors or in auctions, donated to the museum by puppeteers, family members of puppeteers or collectors, these puppets are preserved in the Reserves and are now displayed for the first time in the exhibition THE OTHER LIFE OF PUPPETS.