The Motive of the Puppeteer

Not all strings are visible, nor are all motives clear. Forms of control often blur intention. Traditional puppeteers like Jim Henson or Sergey Obraztsov reveal their craft openly, yet even they may be guided by unseen forces.

Beyond the stage, systems of control become diffuse, faceless, or nonhuman, shaping movement and choice without our awareness. Artists, as outsiders or dissenting insiders, work to expose these hidden mechanisms and give form to what resists visibility.

This project investigates how meaning, identity, and motion are shaped, manipulated, or stolen, illuminating the tangled systems that script our roles and possibilities.

Submissions are encouraged from artists exploring the themes which will be presented in sequence: The Puppet (subjects — willing or unaware); the Puppeteer (controllers — visible or invisible); and these two identities relations (between controller and controlled — transactional, oppressive, or symbiotic).

The Curator would like to share these artworks as examples to illustrate their thinking:

Curated by Ömer Ekmel Kara

My name is Ömer Ekmel Kara. I am a molecular biologist and amateur sculptor currently based in Istanbul, Türkiye.

I have had the pleasure of residing in Bath where I connected with a remarkable community of artists through FaB 2024. Their work deeply inspired me and sparked the idea for my curatorial exhibition proposal for this year’s event.

While I continue to pursue an academic career in molecular biology, with a research focus on cancer biology, art remains a vital passion through which I seek to reveal and express my inner world. The intellectual inspiration generated through my scientific practice and the emotional relief I find in artistic focus continuously feed into one another, forming a dynamic loop of contrast and dialogue that I hope you will find engaging and rewarding within this project.

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linkedin.com/in/ömer-ekmel-kara-81b9141a1

How to apply

Fringe Arts Bath Festival will take place 22 May to 6 June 2026

Submission deadline: Friday 10th April 2026 at 23h59 GMT

Media accepted may include: • Paintings, sculptures, masks • Puppets of all kinds (string, hand, costume, etc.) • Performative work (including literal puppet shows) • Digital, short movies & videos, AI-driven, or experimental interactive works.
Free submission. All are welcome to apply, of any age, status, and from anywhere in the world.
If selected, we ask Artists for a £25 contribution (like crowdfunding) and to give some of their time, as we are all volunteers.
Please read our FAQs here to find out more.
See all 17 projects open to submissions on our home page: fringeartsbath.co.uk

To submit your work: please email the curator puppet@fringeartsbath.co.uk including:

NB: please include the exhibition / project name in the email title.
max 200 words about your work and how it fits the call-out (written, audio file, video or another way to suit you).
some images of the work, or links to video / performance work (or existing work if it hasn’t been made yet).
any relevant links, if you have them (though it’s not a requirement and Curators might not have the capacity to visit them all).
of course please include any questions you have.
you might not hear back from Curators until after the deadline, thank you for your patience.