Earlier in the year I posted about a number of events involving puppets and puppetry that were being planned for the Cultural Olympiad accompanying the London Olympics, so you might like to review them now the games are upon us. Some like OverWorlds and Underworlds have already taken place, but Godiva debuts tomorrow in Coventry, and then proceeds to London over the following week. You can follow them on @GodivaAwakes.
(Photo credit: Festive Road, who I think made the puppets – please let me know if I’m wrong)
Another puppetry project that will culminate in the London Olympics celebrations later this year is Imagination Our Nation (ION). It’s a five year national participatory art project undertaken by Kinetika, an international outdoor performance company, under the artistic direction of the company’s founder, Ali Pretty.
The project is based on an idea of Derek Walcott’s: ‘The only nation I have now is my imagination’.
I wanted to create a project that engaged with the youth of today who are citizens of the future, using the performing arts as a tool to facilitate conversations about inclusivity and diversity within communities…. which aims to leave a legacy of youth based participatory art in communities through out the UK. – Ali Pretty
It is geographically spread across Great Britain and divided into 5 ‘hubs’ specialising in Community, Environment, Diversity, Creativity and Activity. And the backstory that has taken place over the last 5 years – GermiNation, FasciNation, DetermiNation, IllumiNation and ImagiNation – is another version of the familiar: puppets as representatives of another world come here to get to know us and help us re-imagine the future to save the planet.
I like the puppets. There are at least 10 small Champion brothers and sisters, who are 3 feet high – a nice kid height, made from aluminium, and have small decorations to differentiate between them. They are operated by long rods, requiring 4 puppeteers. Here are a few glimpses of the making, and some nice footage of how they move.
There are also 5 larger Eternal puppets, including Atom, Magma and DNA (I couldn’t find the other names), big brothers to the smaller ones, that stand 3 metres tall, and need 5 puppeteers. They have a cool design lines, and are again made of aluminium. The operation of the ION puppets remind me very much of the puppet belonging to Stabfugurencompany that often performs in Berlin.
The puppets can be lit up so they take on different colours, as seen here in From DetermiNation to IllumiNation. It will be interesting to see how they all come together later in the year.
Godiva Awakes is one of several events involving puppetry that are planned as part of the Cultural Olympiad accompanying the London Olympics later this year. It is a project of Imagineer Productions, and will take place in Coventry on 28 -29 July, and then journey to London arriving 5 August to join in the Olympic celebrations.
The project abandons how most people remember the old legend of Lady Godiva: that she rode naked on horseback through town wearing nothing but her long hair, in a deal to stop harsh taxes on villagers. Instead, this contemporary interpretation features a 10-metre high puppet of Godiva with short hair and fine robes, riding on a futuristic-looking horse which is powered along through the streets by 100 cyclists riding together in a Cyclopedia:
Godiva is re-imagined as “a new superhero for the 21st Century” (BBC), and as ‘a contemporary icon for the region, a symbol of courage, fairness, social justice, self sacrifice and sustainability who will create a unique spectacle as she walks to London to take part in the London 2012 celebrations’. She is the centrepiece of a processional extravaganza involving performers of all sorts: musicians, puppeteers, acrobats, dancers and choristers. As many of these giant puppets do (since Royal de Luxe), she awakes from another time – her previous life 1000 years ago – observes the new world, and performs a ceremonial mission.
A larger purpose of the event is drawing in community and young people in lots of ways. It also celebrates the rich heritage in engineering and innovation the West Midlands; showcases the artists and craftsmen that carry on those and other traditions (particularly textile arts): and it is hoped it will support and develop the skills of a new generation of makers, performers and event producers.
The @GodivaAwakes twitter feed is releasing photos everyday of the developing project and although they are not giving too much away, there are nice making photos in their gallery, such as the ones above.
