Le Cadeau: The gift Theatre laboratory with puppets and objects

They have learned at first hand what children in Germanyat worst know from computer games. They know the true meaning of armed struggle, of conflicts flaring up. They are the thousands of child soldiers in the Congo. Victims turned into perpetrators. Plans for their systematic demobilisation have been worked out under the direction of Unicef. The children are being given accommodation, food, clothing and medical attention in transit and reintegration centres. A first step.

For a year now, a group of European artists has travelled regularly to the crisis-ridden region round Kinshasa. Amongst them are actors, directors, video artists, stage-designers and musicians. Their destination is one of Congo's newest cultural centres, the Centre de Ressources. There the artists pursue projects together with street children and former child soldiers. Their aim is to stage theatre productions and to develop new forms of communication and art.

Today, Amako is 17, Lipasa 16 and Elvis 13 years old. Each of them learned to obey commands to the letter. Their lives consisted of little other than combat. Nowadays they are earning their living as puppet players, telling stories in which words are no longer used to command but rather to convey a message. Their mission is no longer to "attack and destroy" but instead to "read and write", "listen and tell", "remember and collect".

The FIDENA festival in Bochum has been supporting the work of the Centre de Ressources and was instrumental in setting up an unusual theatre project. From the middle of August, nine artists will run a four-week laboratory at Bochum's Zeche 1 aimed at linking artistic work and social intervention with a theatrical evening. Their choice of materials and methods will be determined by a search for forms characterized by processes: sculptural installations, film scenes, marionettes and shadow puppet theatre, found elements and reminders. The project will be accompanied by an exhibition, lectures and discussions reformulating the question as to art's social contract.