Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Avenue Galleries, 1st Floor East

Curated by Grace Needlman + Will Bishop 

Coordinated by Ashwaty Chennat 

Co-Presented by Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Chicago is home to a rich and growing ecology of puppetry, bridging mediums and communities of makers. This sampling of puppets by local artists challenges expectations about puppetry and inspires the public to tell their own stories. Puppets are made to tell stories. By taking puppets off stage, we can focus on how artists design specific stories into each object. How do artists invent new ways to mechanize materials in motion, build cohesive worlds, and create characters that expand our ability to understand and empathize with ourselves and others?

This is an exhibition of potentialities. How can the possibility for a particular story be built into a puppet? What are new and unexpected ways to use familiar materials? What stories could you imagine telling with these puppets? What stories do you want to tell and how can you start telling them?