Listening to the marionette | Bruno Descaves | TEDxPSU

Have you stopped to think what kind of relation we have with objects? We deal with them all the time. The job of a puppeteer is to animate objects, which means to impart anima or life into them. In this TEDx talk, performing arts master and puppeteer Bruno Descaves shows that a change in our behavior with objects can bring a transformation where life and machines interact to create a more joyful and playful relationship with the material world.

With his innate talent and invention, Bruno Descaves’ marionettes, violin renderings and contraptions have fascinated audiences around the world, filling the environments with strong vibrations of contentment, wonder and great joy, which remain as precious moments in people’s lives. His unusual trajectory led him, after graduating with a degree in Physics, to work his way around the earth in seven years, going clockwise essentially by land and sea. In 2016 he obtained his Masters in Performing Arts at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, researching and building the Intercessor Objects, devices based on the qualities of marionettes, that are manipulated and worn by persons during performances allowing for an expansion in our awareness as collective human beings.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Have you stopped to think

what kind of relation
we have with objects?

We deal with them all the time:

a loaf of bread,

a red carpet,

a violin,

a car,

a hammer.

But aren't we always trying
to impose upon them our own desires,

so they behave just the way we want?

My job as a puppeteer
is to animate objects,

which means to impart "anima"
or "life" into them.

I would like to show you

that a more sensitive
behavior with objects

can change the way
we relate to the material world,

and also among ourselves.

There is a quote by Albert Einstein
that inspires me,

"You cannot love a car
the way you love a horse.

The horse brings out human feelings
the way machines cannot do".

Interestingly,

marionettes happen to be in the threshold
between the horse and the machine.

On one hand, we have a way
to relate to them with affection:

we call them by name,
recognize their faces,

and, when animated,
they express emotions.

On the other hand, they have machinery,

sometimes complex,
in their making and their crafting,

that produce their tricks,
like for example a trapeze artist.

But how is it to lead a marionette?

Does it simply obey my orders?

There is a tendency in us
to be just manipulators.

The word "manipulator"
comes from "manus", meaning "hand."

We control it with our hands.

There is also a negative meaning
in manipulation.

If you feel someone
is trying to manipulate you,

you don’t like it.

You don’t like to be pushed,

you don’t like to lose control.

For marionettes, though,

in order to find their graceful movement,

a pushy attitude never works.

To animate a marionette, we pull strings.

I've been researching how to transpose
this experience to people

so they could feel it.

I would like to invite

someone that is willing to experience

pulling and being pulled.

Oh...

Hello!

(Chuckling)

So, we can pull...

You can pull, I can pull...

We can listen to each other...

and let’s see what happens.

(Sounds of ropes and steps onstage)

We can be gentle...

We can feel light, light as a marionette.

(Chuckling)

Yeah!

Get into the mood, not thinking...

just enjoying being pulled.

We can go down, up -

Marionettes can fly, but we can’t.

(Laughter)

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)

These are the "intercessor-ropes."

So, to animate a marionette,
we pull strings.

No pushing!

If you stop and think,

we push pedals, we push keys
on our cellular phones,

we even push our feet heavily down,

instead of walking lightly as a marionette.

Pushing is a habit in our daily life.

The philosopher
Soren Kierkegaard once said:

"The door to happiness
opens to the outside".

The more you push, the more it gets stuck.

So, why are we pushing
everything all the time?

Perhaps because we live
increasingly in a machine world.

Machines have buttons,
triggers, pedals, screens

that, whenever pushed,
behave in a very programed way.

It is hard to believe,
but some kids nowadays

are finding all those
programed gadgets boring.

They are looking for something else,
something outside of that box.

I had an experience the other day.

A mother came up [to me] after a show

and told that she was
impressed by her kid.

She tried to ask him something
during the show,

and he quietly answered:

"Silence Mom! He is performing!

It's happening right now!"

The connection between the puppet and me

made it possible for the kid
to forget the strings

and enter into the present moment.

That is where life exists.

I am always a bit afraid
when I perform with marionettes

because they have their own
substance in movement,

and I have to listen carefully
through the strings,

otherwise they may get tangled.

Sandra…

Oh, Sandra!

(Sound of the puppet walking)

Let’s fly!

(Music)

(Music ends)

(Applause) (Cheers)

You did very well, Sandra! Look at them!

Come on.

Some physicists in the room
must have noticed

that Sandra has a natural frequency.

I chose a song that would
fit with that rhythm

and, from there, create variety
and, ultimately, life.

I have to confess something to you.

There is a division in me
between my calculative heart…

no, no, no, no…

calculative brain and sensitive heart.

When I had to choose a career,

I wanted something more
manipulating and controlling.

I chose physics.

I loved the equations,

thinking about the interactions between
the matter and the material forces,

the natural forces...

the pulling force of gravity.

"Oh, that is also pulling! Eureka!"

But modern physics taught me

that I had to change
my rigid frame of mind.

I could not just observe
and make predictions

because the very action of observing

would interact with the object,

affecting it.

This new knowledge changed,
deep within me,

the way I understood
and related to the world.

In my recent research,

I developed some manipulated objects
that function as instruments

for interaction and observation
of our own persona.

I would like to invite someone now

that is willing to observe and interact

with his own mask.

Oh, yes, please.

(Applause)

Thank you very much.

Please sit.

We can see each other here.

And you can see yourself
as a third person would see you.

Two mirrors make it possible.

Thank you.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

These were the "intercessor-mirrors."

A few months after my graduation...

declining a master’s scholarship,

I boarded a small sailing boat
departing from Rio to Lisbon,

with the objective of observing
and interacting with the world

in a seven-year journey
around the earth by land and sea.

To make my living, I worked as a baker,

baking buns.

We work the dough,

push it,

pull it,

beat it,

then let it grow.

It grows, it's alive!!

Then we [bake] it.

They become delicious edible objects.

We can smell them,

taste them.

We can share them.

In Paris, I got a job in a circus.

The job was quite stressful,

so I would come back home by metro
every night, tired and lonely.

One day, a musician came in the train.

He played a song that changed
my mood completely.

After three months working with horses,
elephants and bossy clowns backstage,

I had one day off.

So, gathering all my courage,

I picked up my violin,

entered a wagon and played…

It worked!

I could fill other people's hearts
with my music, and make a living!

Here, the object "violin" was singing,

was expressing melody and harmony.

Interestingly,

that is another kind of animation,

and my violin was alive again.

A few years later, in Tokyo,

I started building marionettes

to join the music performances.

That’s when I found out

that people loved to see
animated objects coming to life.

I went deeper and invented a machine
that behaved like a marionette:

The Marionette Machine,

a contraption with many pedals,

connected to levers,

that could transform
rough pushing into gentle pulls,

so that I could animate the marionettes
while playing the violin.

(Speaker hums)

(Cowbells and cymbals crash)

My teacher and great string puppeteer,
Phillip Huber, says:

"String puppeteering
is a surviving art form,

struggling against great odds."

That makes me think, makes me wonder:

what is really struggling
to survive in our society?

Is it the value of the craft
and manipulation of a marionette

that is struggling?

We don’t make things by hand anymore.

Is it the playful relationship
between people and animated objects

that is struggling?

Life has become so serious.

The idea that I'd like
to share with you is this:

Let’s listen to the marionette,

let’s listen to the reaction of all those
objects that we touch every day,

listen to our feet when we walk,

or even our hands when we meet someone.

It will show us the right strings
to pull to open the door.

And let’s not be afraid
to bring from deep within

that quiet little child
that wants to play with real objects,

in real time.

(Sounds from the contraption)

(Balloon bursts)

(Laughter)

It is happening right now!

(Applause)

(Cheers)

Thank you!

(Applause)