Exhibition | Puppets 4.0 Museum Without Walls

Adults, 13 years +

 

March 4 to 8, 2025

 

Co-presented with

 

 

Presented for the first time in America, this virtual exhibition created by the German Forum for Figure Theatre and Puppetry Arts (DFFP) takes us on an entertaining and engaging journey through the history of puppet theatre.

In 1948, Fritz Wortelmann, a citizen of Bochum, Germany, began assembling a vast collection of objects from the world of puppet theatre. Now, more than 70 years later, the collection that bears his name can be admired in a most extraordinary way.

Equipped with a virtual reality headset, visitors can move around independently, accompanied by an animated and enthusiastic 3D version of Fritz Wortelmann, who explains the characters, traditions and various puppetry techniques developed around the world. From folk fairs to agitprop theatre, from an Indonesian bazaar to a Sicilian opera house, Puppets 4.0 Museum Without Walls is an impressive tribute to the history of the 11th art.

The virtual tour is available in French, English, and the original German.

This exhibition features the magnificent puppets themselves, an extensive amount of research conducted by the theatre’s directors, and an extraordinary technical feat, one that is still rare in the theatre. This museum without walls will beguile you, taking you on an amusing and atmospheric journey through the world of puppet theatre

– Double, Magazin für Puppen-, Figuren- und Objekttheater

Mr. Wortelmann tells gripping stories and, as is often the case in museums, one learns a great deal along the way. (…) The VR experience introduced me to a whole new world of puppet theatre and puppetry.

– Jörn Schumacher, Mixed, online magazine

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March 4 to 8, 2025

 

Goethe-Institut
1626 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, suite 100
Montréal (Québec) H2X 2T1
Phone: 514-499-0159

 

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025, 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 6, 2025, 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Friday, March 7, 2025, 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 8, 2025, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 

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Photos

Photos: Anthea Cebulla

Company

The Deutsches Forum für Figurentheater und Puppenspielkunst (DFFP, the German Forum for Figure Theatre and Puppetry Arts) is the leading German organization responsible for the nationwide promotion of all aspects of puppet, figure, and object theatre. It was founded in 1992 by the City of Bochum and numerous associations and training establishments from across Germany dedicated to the puppetry arts. The DFFP organizes the Festival FIDENA – Figurentheater der Nationen (FIDENA Festival – Puppet Theatre of the Nations), as well as symposia and the presentation of the City of Bochum’s Fritz Wortelmann Prize for amateur puppet theatre. It publishes works and runs a public library, a media library, and archives.

 

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Credits

Project management: Annette Dabs, Mareike Gaubitz

Development and programming: Alexander Philippi and team, DIGIFACTURA

Sound design: Maximilian Rodegra, Loop Post-production

Voices: Steffen Reuber, Roy Kift, Philippe Rodriguez Jorda

 

Puppets 4.0 Museum without walls was funded by the German Federal Government’s Commissioner for Culture and Media, and the City of Bochum.

The French version was made possible thanks to the support of the Goethe-Institut.

 

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