During the social isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, UWindsor art professor Jennifer Willet has missed access to her bio-art laboratory. To address this loss, she and her research team designed a paper puppet theatre cut-out of the lab that allows for kitchen-grade performances.

A downloadable version of this exercise will engage participants in their own acts of creation, using materials found in their homes.

The workshop is available for download from Science Gallery Detroit through Friday, Dec. 11. It’s part of an ongoing series by Dr. Willet called COVID Suit, in which she explores the shared experiences of fear and isolation under orders to stay-at-home. As an artist, mother, and laboratory researcher, she performs daily activities — cooking, caring for children, shopping — while wearing a bedazzled hazmat suit.

Those who agree to try out the workshop are asked to document the results of their Stay-at-Home experiments in photos or video and share them on social media at #incubatorartlab and email them to incubatorlabadmin@uwindsor.ca.

Science Gallery Detroit is a project of Michigan State University to engage youths between 15 and 25 years of age by combining emerging research and ideas from the worlds of art, science, design, and technology.

For more information on the event and to download the Paper Laboratory Puppet Theatre printable template, visit the Science Gallery Detroit website.

Visit the Incubator Art Lab website for examples of Paper Laboratory Puppet Theatre interventions by members of its team.