The enduring popularity of The Muppets is proof that audiences haven’t lost their appetite for felt, foam, and subversive fun. Puppetry continues to evolve across screens and stages, but some of its most inventive expressions unfold on a much smaller, more mobile scale.
Tucked into Calgary’s downtown +15 network, Tiny Wonders: A Wunderbriefs Retrospective is a captivating exhibition in the +15 Galleries at the Werklund Centre, presented in partnership with the Festival of Animated Objects Society. The show offers a rare close-up look at animated object theatre and the interdisciplinary practice behind contemporary puppet performances.
Everything is White is an autobiographical performance by Mexican artist Almendra Vergara that combines storytelling and puppetry through her delicate paper constructions, collages, and cut-outs. Artist Sara McNeil, meanwhile, uses discarded trash, layered with felt or paint, to build familiar yet fantastical creatures like a frog in a suit or a crocodile disguised as a leopard.
These window installations give viewers a rare behind-the-scenes view into how animated object theatre or film sits uniquely at the intersection of visual art, storytelling, performance, and design.
The Magic of the Pop-Up Puppet Show
Many of the works featured in Tiny Wonders originate from the Wunderbriefs program, a staple of the Festival of Animated Objects.
Wunderbriefs are mini puppet interactions designed to be flexible enough to pop up almost anywhere: corners, hallways, sidewalks, lobbies, or basements. Their stages can be built from suitcases, old radios, wagons — you name it.
The performances themselves are equally adaptable. Some are designed as intimate one-on-one encounters, while others invite small groups to gather around a tiny theatrical world. That portability allows artists to meet audiences wherever they happen to be and collapses the usual distance between performer and viewer.
A Gallery Network Hiding in Plain Sight
In the context of the Werklund Centre’s multi-level winding corridors, the format for Tiny Wonders is natural. The building is first and foremost a performing arts hub, where hallways guide audiences between theatres and through the +15 network.
Along the way, those same spaces double as exhibition platforms, transforming everyday passageways into accessible galleries where visual art unfolds during the flow of daily movement.
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The exhibitions on display in these otherwise liminal stretches are the centre’s contribution to making gallery spaces more multimedia, engaging, and accessible. Visitors encounter a series of rotating exhibition spaces embedded directly into the architecture.
Window Galleries, with vitrines lining the corridor near the Max Bell Theatre, provide space for smaller installations, while Ledge Gallery offers room for larger installations. Lightbox Studio, located near the Martha Cohen Theatre, hosts studio-based projects, and +15 Soundscape introduces sound art into the mix. Together, they create an informal indoor art crawl, one that unfolds naturally within the flow of daily downtown life.
A Fitting Moment
The exhibition’s final month also lands near April 15, when the global arts community marks World Art Day. This year’s theme, A Garden of Expression: Cultivating Community Through Art, feels apt for a space like the Werklund Centre, where multiple creative platforms coexist under one roof.
Visiting Tiny Wonders before it closes offers more than a look at miniature puppet worlds; it’s also a chance to see the building in transition, with several surrounding gallery spaces preparing to refresh with new exhibitions in April. As one miniature world folds back into its suitcase, new artistic encounters are already taking root throughout the centre.
