Swing by the Institute of Contemporary Art before March 30 to check out its latest addition featuring. puppets. Before stepping into the exhibit, a rap album-style disclaimer reads: "EXPLICIT CONTENT: Parents, supervise your children. But don't fret, no puppet sex á la Team America here."
The first portion of the exhibit is a cramped collection of various puppets (including some dead baby puppets, if that's what you're into) tucked behind plywood frames and chicken wire. Although this "gateway" to the real exhibit is sure to make a claustrophobe flip, the remainder of the exhibit is held in a spacious warehouse.
Eerie background music and suspended puppet limbs make this exhibit downright terrifying at first glance. Scattered around the exhibit are photos of puppets, booths showing films of puppet shows and automated dancing puppets. While the films include a man dancing with phallic-shaped puppets in his underpants and a family wearing ostrich puppet suits wandering through wilderness, the exhibit's sheer weird factor still leaves room for visitors to think about questions of identity and performance in their own lives.
The Puppet Show exhibit gives a whole new meaning to Missy's call to "get your freak on!" and with free admission for all Penn students, the ICA's exhibit is worth checking out, even if dancing dummies aren't exactly your bag.
