Joan Baixas - Jesús Atienza

Fantotes by Joan Baixas. Photo: Jesús M. Atienza.

In a decisive gesture we put down our newspaper, switch off the news, and propose a toast to art and fraternity; today is a day of celebration, World Puppetry Day! We cannot forget the grief, the painful reality of misfortune and poverty troubling the world, but exactly because we do not want to forget, we intend to dedicate ourselves to celebrate human dignity, and the insatiable zeal of mankind to strengthen life against misfortune and death.

Art is a hymn to this dignity, bringing together past and future generations, cultures and clans, in a continuous stream of poetry. Art creates a complicity of gazes between people as they marvel together, creator and spectator, in the exploration of the unknown. Every artistic act is an irritating grain of sand in the gear of reality.

(…)  A good number of years ago, a handful of puppeteers had the bright idea of creating an organisation to encourage international contacts and exchange. Unima, by now a solid reality, and extending all over the world, is today more necessary than ever, to help in the organisation of our profession’s efforts to achieve the aims of art and human dignity.

So, let’s praise the gods for granting us this profession, give thanks to our “forebears” for creating Unima, celebrate the splendour of the imaginary arts, and drink to the health of the marionette!

Friends, let’s have a GREAT PARTY!

(This is a short version of the article by Joan Baixas. Full, original version in Titeresante and Putxinel·li.)

Joan Baixas - Jesús Atienza

Photo: Jesús M. Atienza.