The Wall , A Work-In-Progress in Residency
MASS MoCA invites you into the midst of Ulrike Quade’s work-in-progress experimentation in combining puppetry, dance, theater, live music, and visual art. The Wall is a series of portraits of individuals living in a claustrophobic contemporary space. The characters are the outline of a dream of the musician Erik Sanko – they are the tools of his song, the puppets of his mind.

About Ulrike Quade
Ulrike Quade is one of the Netherlands’ most outstanding visual theater makers.
Her art is situated between traditional scenography and performance, with visual art as her main inspiration. Over the years, her puppets have become three-dimensional paintings that come to life through time and design. Movement is the secret that helps breathe life into the puppets. Using special scissors, Quade cuts her puppets out of big pieces of foam rubber. This technique enables each puppet to move in a distinguished way.
In 2004, Ulrike Quade received a grant to participate as the first Dutch director in the annual Directors Lab at Lincoln Center in New York. During this period she had the opportunity to define her vision of scenography and theater to Laurie Cearley, curator of MASS MoCA. As a result of their talks and a visit to MASS MoCA, she was invited for a residency.

Credits
Concept and puppets: Ulrike Quade
Concept stage design: Michiel Voet
Music: Erik Sanko
Performance: Silke Hundertmark, Andrew Morrish, Ulrike Quade
Props: Jessica Grindstaff
Costumes: Zita Winnubst

Ricki’s Dream is a co-production of Stichting Bewegingsalarm and MASS MoCA.


De Volkskrant, The Netherlands:
"This theatre maker has trained her puppeteering skills to the extent that the puppet does not hide the puppeteer or merely tolerates her alongside of it, but actually becomes an extension of her."
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