The Puppet Hub + Exhibitions
Your Puppetry Destination for Food, Drink, and Exhibitions!
Bursting with site-specific activities, the Puppet Hub is the perfect place to relax between shows, meet up with friends and make some new ones! Take a break at the Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Cafe. While you snack, enjoy the pop-up shop for Puppet Fest merch, as well as two special exhibitions: "Two Ways Down," featuring festival artist Laura Heit’s hand-drawn animation and film inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Heavenly Delights,” and a room full of giant lantern puppets created in the pre-festival workshop with Andrew Kim of Thingumajig.
Hub Hours:
The Puppet Hub opens Friday, January 23, every day at 9 a.m., and closes when the Cafe closes.
Spoke & Bird Cafe Hours:
Friday, Jan. 23 – Saturday, Jan. 24
12 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 25
12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 26 – Thursday, Jan. 29
12 p.m. – 5:30 p.m
Friday, Jan. 30
12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday Jan. 31 – Sunday, Feb. 1
12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Puppet Hub Exhibitions
Two Ways Down by Laura Heit
Chicago Puppet Studio, Fine Arts Building
410 S. Michigan Ave., Studio 433
An immersive shadow puppet and hand-drawn animated installation, by visiting puppet artist Laura Heit. Taking inspiration from the Hieronymus Bosch work, Garden of Earthly Delights, this fantastical piece reflects on the momentary nature of life using thrown shadows from tabletop dioramas and reflected and refracted animated projections to create a fleeting world where human-animal hybrids, specters, and body parts morph and flit across the walls.
Giant Puppet Lanterns
Chicago Puppet Studio, Fine Arts Building
410 S. Michigan Ave., Studio 433
Come check out the giant lantern puppets created in the pre-festival workshop with Andrew Kim of Thingumajig. Andrew has created and performed puppet and mask plays, parades and events for over 30 years. He is the founder and former Artistic Director of the Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade and the Todmorden Lamplighter Festival. He has led masterclasses in England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Bulgaria, South Korea and several cities throughout the USA.
