Symposium: Aesthetics of Access in Puppet Theater

The “FIGURE IT OUT” festival presents examples of “Aesthetics of Access” in puppetry.

During the symposium, these artistic approaches will be explored in depth through workshops, and participants will have the opportunity to experience the working methods firsthand.

The first workshop session, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., is aimed at both deaf and hearing professionals; the workshop from 2 to 4 p.m. is intended for blind, visually impaired, and sighted colleagues.

10:00–11:30 Communication without Words

A workshop for deaf and hearing professionals on the production “Hrdinky?!”

• The workshop will be conducted without spoken language

Workshop Leader: Veronika Slámová

This interactive workshop introduces participants to visual communication: They will discover just how much they can express without saying a single word. Through signs, gestures, facial expressions, and full-body movements, they will experience how natural human communication works beyond spoken language.

Deaf artist Veronika Slámová works as a workshop leader and performer with the OUKEJ theater group, as well as a lecturer at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. In a playful and trusting manner, she introduces participants to the world of visual perception, nonverbal communication, and mutual understanding.

The workshop is conducted without spoken language. A German Sign Language (DGS) interpreter will be on site before, during, and after the workshop to assist participants as needed.

Accessibility

The workshop will be conducted without spoken language. A DGS interpreter will be on site before, during, and after the workshop to assist participants as needed.

11:30–13:00 Krump with Signs

A workshop for deaf and hearing professionals on the production “La Langue des Cygnes”

• in spoken English with simultaneous interpretation into German Sign Language

Workshop Leader: Andy Ngoua

Using movement material developed by participants in the previous workshop “Communication without Words,” as well as material from the production “La Langue des Cygnes,” members of the Compagnie Graine de Vie will introduce their artistic method of translating signs into dance.

Under the guidance of dancer and choreographer Andy Ngoua, participants will develop their own short Krump-style choreography. The workshop will be accompanied by live music. Accessibility A German Sign Language (DGS) interpreter will be on site before, during, and after the workshop to assist participants as needed.

1:00–2:00 p.m. Break

2:00–4:00 p.m. Roots: Experiments with the Invisible

A workshop for blind, visually impaired, and sighted professionals on the production “unsichtbar”

• in German spoken language with whispered translation into English spoken language (if needed; please indicate when registering)

Workshop leaders: Franziska Burnay Pereira, Gerald Pirner, Susann Tamoszus

How can children be encouraged to describe their observations, images, sounds, and inner visions through language and sound in a way that allows them to be shared with blind people? What settings help us develop ideas about a world beneath our feet that is invisible to us and translate them into tactile, auditory, and theatrical forms? They explored these questions in the research project “Wurzeln” together with preschoolers from a daycare center in Berlin Kreuzberg and both blind and sighted artists.

In this workshop, they will present artistic experiments and practical settings from the project and share experiences with integrated audio description from the production process of “unsichtbar.”