Participatory Art in Contemporary New Puppetry

Wijaya, Hanny (2024) Participatory Art in Contemporary New Puppetry. In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 2247-2253. ISBN 978-952-7549-02-5

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Abstract

Essentially a folk art, puppetry existed long before Modernism and was used to communicate ideas and express human emotions. Puppetry has carried on the essential characteristic of the country that produces it, reflecting the national temperament and psychology of its society. In many traditions, puppets are articulated objects engineered to receive and express motion. Through this research, the researcher focused on the role of puppetry from a contemporary perspective, especially in its relationship with Participatory Art. In the study case of Presence in Absentia, the concept of Contemporary New Puppetry is more usefully thought of through the eclectic notion of performing objects rather than the more reified idea of puppets. It offers assemblages on the stage of objects, human performers, and projection. Although the original proposal of this project was based on Conceptual Art and a collaborative mindset with the Performing Art practitioners at the site-specific work, along the way, the conception was shifted into another direction, Participatory Art. Moholy-Nagy, one of the Participatory Art pioneers, believed that everybody has talent, that is, trusting in the creative powers of ordinary people. Participatory Art challenges not only the artists/ practitioners and audience intellect and intuition in the strategic choices to be made but also in the physical involvement needed to fulfill the Participatory Artwork, which, in this case, would refer to the contribution of audience in conducting and directing the sound elements of the performance. Through this project the involvement of the audience physically during the performance made this project fully come into being. Contemporary New Puppetry in this project could be a sample that the predominant use and vision of the puppet today is no longer represent an object newly imposed from the outside set to overtake us, but rather something with which we are deeply connected and through which we strive to express, understand, and negotiate our interrelationship with each other in with the non-human world, or in this case is the world of puppetry.

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