Welcome, bienvenu:es, hereinspaziert!
Kaleidoscopia plays on my name (Pia) and the kaleidoscope—an instrument that creates wonder through ever-shifting perceptions from the same fragments. Turn it once, and you see one pattern; turn again, and everything reorganizes. Puppetry does this too: objects become beings, materials transform into characters.
I am Pia Banzhaf, a puppetry artist-researcher working across shadowlight theater, hand-carved puppets, and object-supported-storytelling. My practice investigates how performing objects create an oscillation between seeing materials as things and as beings—a cognitive process that opens space for new perspectives. Drawing on extensive training with master puppeteers internationally and a PhD in cognitive poetics of puppetry, I develop performances and workshops for educators and the general public, designed to be participatory and accessible. Building on years of university teaching and research, I’m now launching Pie & Puppets company to bring puppetry to welcoming public spaces.
More to come soon—watch this space!
Contact: pia.banzhaf@gmail.com
