Syndicate: International Institute of Puppetry, France

[Sally Jane Norman <norman@wanadoo.fr> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

Dear friends,

The International Institute of Puppetry, located in Charleville-MŽzi�res
(on the French-Belgian border, often a hyperactive site of European
"exchange" in past history), is a unique establishment which has been
devoted to puppetry, mime, performance, body-object relations, stage
design, mime, masks, choreography, and music for many years. It works
discreetly but effectively, and has hosted some original workshop
experimentation led by people like Tadeusz Kantor, Josef Svoboda, Georges
Aperghis, Jim Henson... Apart from the International Institute, which has
a documentation centre and a small theatre, Charleville boasts a National
School of Puppetry, with excellent wood and metal workshops, a small
gallery space, a dance studio, and a small music studio. It's not huge
but holds lots of energy. Recently, its Rumanian directress, an
exceptionally strong-willed visionary woman called Margareta Niculescu,
herself a puppeteer who ran the Tandarica Theatre in Bucarest for several
decades, has fulfilled another of her driving dreams by adding to the
existing facilities a residency called the Villa d'Aubilly. Henceforth,
we can and will host artists and theorists working on or around the field
of puppetry, which, needless to say, we understand in the broadest sense
of the term : articulated figures, animism, artificial life, automata,
robots, phenomenology, mind-body problematics and a lot of other very
contemporary issues can and should be approached within and from our
Institute. I can personally vouch for this : it proved to be a wonderful
host structure for a motion capture course I organised back in summer
1994, and the 1996 issue of its annual publication, PUCK (published in
French, German and Spanish) is devoted to VIRTUAL IMAGES. We do not have
high end digital equipment by any means, but we can offer a convivial,
stimulating setting for people to build things with their hands and their
heads. We are also seeking ways to build bridges with other structures
better endowed with new technologies, since we firmly believe in the
power of links between small, flexible structures - our bets are on
David, not on Goliath.

We would like to consolidate theoretical activity, and are launching a
series of seminars, as of next January; we will also reinforce the
publishing activity which was initiated a few years ago at the Institute.
We are adamantly open, geoculturally, and have within our "family circle"
people from many different parts of the globe. Puppeteers from the most
ancient traditions have come to Charleville-MŽzi�res to transmit their
skills and passions to young artists. Anthropologists, ethnologists,
musicologists, and sociologists have long been part of this family.

We have several different "protocols" for our residencies, since we'd
like to encourage both short-term residents coming to the Institute for
consultation purposes, and longer term stays with a view to accomplishing
a theoretical or artistic project. We are determined bridge builders -
the Meuse is not a big river, but like any other river, it ultimately
pours into the world's oceans and we like to feel the currents.

Please think and talk about this place. We represent modest resources but
burning ideas; we have some experience, much potential, and the will to
fight for ideas we believe in - i.e. features we share with all those to
whom this mail is addressed.

I fervently hope that some vital creative energies can be triggered and
potentiated through the International Institute of Puppetry.

Sally Jane Norman
DŽlŽguŽe Ë? la recherche
Institut International de la Marionnette
Charleville-MŽzi�res
http://www.ardennes.com/asso/iim
inst.marionnette@ardennes.com