Penang Puppet Festival 2026 檳城偶戲節 2026

BERBUNGA | 生花

Penang Puppet Festival (PPF) returns from 12–23 August 2026 with its third edition, BERBUNGA (生花), celebrating puppetry as a living tradition that continues to grow, adapt and inspire across generations.

The festival opens with a historic gathering of representatives from five regions where Hokkien glove puppetry (POTEHI) continues to flourish—Penang, Jakarta, Singapore, Taipei and Zhangzhou (Fujian)—marking the first time these living traditions come together in Southeast Asia.

Over 12 days, audiences can experience performances, exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, forums and community programmes featuring diverse forms of puppetry, including POTEHI, Teochew iron-rod puppetry, Wayang Kulit Kelantan, contemporary puppetry and shadow theatre.

More than a celebration of performance, PPF 2026 creates a platform for intercultural dialogue, artistic exchange and heritage transmission, inviting audiences to discover how traditional puppetry continues to bloom in the contemporary world.

檳城偶戲節（Penang Puppet Festival, PPF）將於 2026 年 8 月 12 至 23 日舉行，以「生花 BERBUNGA」為主題，透過演出、交流與創作，展現偶戲作為活態文化，如何在不同土地持續生長、傳承與創新。

本屆偶戲節將迎來東南亞首次——來自檳城、雅加達、新加坡、臺北及福建漳州五個仍延續閩南布袋戲（POTEHI）傳承的地區代表齊聚檳城，共同呈現同源文化在不同社會與歷史脈絡下所發展出的多元風貌。

十二天的節目涵蓋布袋戲、潮州鐵枝木偶、吉蘭丹皮影戲、當代偶戲及影子戲等多元偶戲形式，並設有展覽、講座、工作坊、論壇及社區活動，打造一個連結藝術、文化、教育與國際交流的平台，讓傳統偶戲在當代持續綻放新的生命力。

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OTHER FASCINATING PROGRAMMES

Street Fragments: Jalan Gurdwara

Slow down and look closer, the streets here hold many untold stories beneath their surface. “Street Fragments: Jalan Gurdwara” invites audiences to rediscover one of George Town’s familiar streets through the traces of its layered past. Once known as Brick Kiln Road—named after brick kilns whose exact locations have long been forgotten—today’s Jalan Gurdwara takes its name from the century-old Sikh temple that continues to stand as a landmark of the neighbourhood.

Mano Plus x NoTimeToWaste Pop Up + Showcase

In conjunction with George Town Festival, Mano Plus Penang presents a thoughtful pop-up display in collaboration with notime towaste and .bungkus. As a curated Select Store, Mano Plus continues to champion local brands, makers, and creative voices that reflect the best of what Malaysia has to offer; selections that are thoughtful, purposeful, and rooted in contemporary culture. With this pop up, explore how soft plastic and textile waste can be transformed into meaningful think pieces as they take many forms that can inhabit our daily lives. notime towaste is not just a design lab, but a living atelier shaped by consciousness, restraint, and intention; a design philosophy exploring how we might live with greater awareness and less excess. Having launched .bungkus as a creative means to work with a commonly discarded material, plastic bags. View the latest collection of bags, accessories and furniture that hope to become drivers for habitual change. Concurrently, peer into the lab’s exploration of textile wastes; another disregarded waste material that deserves a serious introspection of how we value, produce and ultimately discard.

Collodion, Silver, Glass: Contemporary Wet Plate Photography

Step into the captivating world of “Collodion, Silver, Glass: Contemporary Wet Plate Photography”, where nineteenth-century photographic techniques meet contemporary artistic vision. Featuring the work of Steve Tan (陈兴国), Malaysia’s only professional wet plate photographer, this exhibition showcases hauntingly beautiful portraits and still lifes created through a painstaking process that transforms glass, silver, and light into timeless images. Alongside the exhibition, audiences can discover the craftsmanship behind this rare medium through demonstrations and workshops, offering a glimpse into one of photography’s earliest—and most enchanting—forms.