Palace Museum Zoo

Puppets Coming out from Books and Paintings / A Night at the Museum

Who said the collections at the National Palace Museum can only stay quietly on shelves? In collaboration with The NPM Zoo: Animal Paintings in the Museum Collection, Puppet & Its Double Theater invites animals in the paintings to step out of the exhibition shelves and enjoy a fantastic night at the museum! The performance is based on five paintings–Auspicious Omens (Ming Dynasty), Liu Jiude’s Lion (Qing Dynasty), Wang Su’s Pig (Qing Dynasty), Dai Hong’s Phoenixes and Auspicious Clouds (Qing Dynasty) and Beneficent Rain (Song Dynasty). The animals in the paintings are turned into a Chinese unicorn (giraffe), a mystical lion, a phoenix, a dragon, animals from the Chinese zodiac, as well as wonderful creatures under the sea. They are everywhere in the exhibition, surrounding the audience, and experiencing an amazing museum journey that is beyond imagination and subverts all senses!

Commissioned by National Palace Museum
Premiere: Aug. 3, 2019, National Palace Museum
Director: Yu-jane LIU, Mi-chen CHIU, Yi RUAN, Ruby YU, Abbu CHOW