Puppet exhibition in Yerevan

Aratta Youth Club is planning to hold an exhibition-competition of Armenian ceremonial puppets in an attempt to give the public a chance to get familiarized with the puppets and save the puppet-making art from dying.

At a press conference today, ethnographer Manan Arakelyan, the head of the cultural department of the club, said that the Armenians seem now to have forgotten about their puppets which once used to bear some ethnic value.

"The goal of the event is to present the ceremonial puppets to the public. During the event puppets will be prepared which will be sample ones. It will also be shown what kind of puppets we used to have and what functions they performed," said she.

"In each ceremony of the puppet is the face of your people. Today we are being oblivious of puppets. This form of art is dying, but it can be saved," Arakelyan explained.

Those interested to take part in this exhibition-competition can go to Aratta Youth Club and get registered before February 22.

There are more than 20 registered participants at the moment. During a week some scientific workshops will he organized for them to get closer to the symbolism ceremonial puppets.

"They should not be like the template puppets in Vernisage [the place this kind of things are sold]," she explained.

The event is scheduled at the end of March at the National Gallery of Armenia. The exhibition-competition will kick off by the screening of a film about puppets.