Happy World Puppetry Day.

This year, a message from artist and roboticist Zaven Paré caught my attention. He reflected on something subtle but powerful: the difference between manipulating a robot and manipulating a puppet.

That distinction stayed with me. In my own practice, materials are at the center of the work. I don’t see the puppet as something to control, but as something to listen to. It’s a relationship, not a command. When I work with fragile, living, or biodegradable materials, unpredictability isn’t a problem. It’s the starting point. Resistance, decay, and small failures are not mistakes. They are the beginning of the story.

While robots are often built to execute instructions, puppets demand a different kind of sensitivity. They invite you into their logic. They make you slow down and pay attention.

Zaven Paré posed a simple but powerful question: What do we really manipulate—the object, or the meaning it carries?

For me, it is not about control. It is about listening. And sometimes, the materials themselves tell the story.