Über.leben

Based on the motto “Über.leben” (“About Life” or “Survival”), this year’s International Puppet Theatre Festival in Munich focused biographies as the starting point of artistic examination of social matters of importance. In other words, one’s personal history became political, and world history became personal.
25 ensembles from around the world had been invited to present productions which placed personal biographies in relation to history, legends and fairy tales. The festival presented the entire range of contemporary puppet theatre art featuring puppets, objects and images, and cross-genre works of dance, fine art and new media. The thematic focus of this year’s festival was “Africa” with five performances. An installation of African puppets from the puppet theatre collection at the Munich Stadtmuseum broadened the perspective of the festival theme. The programme also included discussions, lectures, a film series and student puppet-theatre performances. The goal of the festival was to demonstrate the broad aesthetic diversity of puppet theatre and encourage discourse on the presentation and presentability of history through puppet theatre.

Artistic director: Mascha Erbelding
Artists: Paper Body Collective (ZA), Compagnie Kazyadance, Yvette Coetzee (ZA), Nicola Unger, Théatre Tohu-Bohu (FR), Neville Tranter, Yeung Faï, Polina Borisova, Vélo Théâtre, Ensemble Materialtheater.