Celebration Parade

Celebrate when and where you can! For three days in a row we will be doing this in Essen, Duisburg and Bochum in the Landschaftspark, at Zollverein and in the Westpark, when a pair of elephants cross the Ruhr region together with their young. Instead of real elephants, life-sized artist-built creatures will explore the area. They are presented by the Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa, famous around the world for their fantastic creations (including War Horse and Little Amal), working here in collaboration with the Ukwanda Puppets & Designs Art Collective. These are the Celebration Parade’s first stops in Europe and, accompanied by music, it will explore it surroundings and invite school classes, children and families to make their own animal figures in advance at school and at the Festival Centre that they can then bring to life in the parade. A celebration you won’t forget!