Bridges Festival 2021

Computer games, and animated films are a form of puppetry. Using a series of static images lined up to evoke movement. Robots, becoming more present in our daily life are also puppets in their essence; complex combinations of inanimate parts assembled in a way that allows them to have movement with specific outcome and function. Most recent humanoid robots are even directly modelled after centuries old principles and techniques of puppet designs and building.

Bridges – Mississauga Puppetry Festival will aim to engage in the conversation about art and society by introducing, examining and celebrating various forms of animation of objects during March break. For us, animation is expressed in various forms of movement of inanimate objects. These forms include puppetry, automation, stop-motion animation, film, digital animation and robotics. We are curious about the questions of how life is created and impacted by objects that explore human stories and form relations with humans. It is our mission to ignite a reflection of the world in our audiences by connecting the past and the future. We want to celebrate traditional forms of puppetry and the skills of the puppet designers and performers, while expanding the conversation of what puppetry and animation are and how they touch the contemporary world.