The "die-wo-spielen" Festival

Generations - 40 Years of the Visual Theatre and Puppetry Program at HMDK
13th International Student Puppetry Festival
September 29th - October 1st, 2023

In 2023, the Visual Theatre and Puppetry program at HMDK Stuttgart turned 40 years old. We had already celebrated this milestone earlier in the year with the Animated City event, where many alumni and numerous artists participated. With the 13th edition of the "die-wo-spielen" Festival, we aimed to further celebrate the 40 years of puppetry with the current students in late summer!

The festival aimed to strengthen the exchange between puppetry and art students on an international and regional level. The "die-wo-spielen" Festival offered opportunities for networking and presenting their own works to students from our partner universities in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Belgium, as well as students from music and art schools in and around Stuttgart. In addition to the presentations, a two-day workshop was conducted by Clair Heggen, who has been working in various theater areas for many decades. This workshop provided students, interested individuals, and guests with new insights and inspiration for the diversity of puppetry.

This year, the festival took place during the same week as the Bachelor productions of the 4th year and the short formats of the 3rd year of our study program, bringing us students back to the theater of materials, objects, puppets, bodies, dance, and visual theater after a long summer break.