The trained hairdresser, actor, dancer and artistic autodidact Harry Kramer (1925-1997) was one of Kassel's most enigmatic artistic personalities. He achieved national and international fame through his participation in documenta 3 (1964), when he presented a selection of his filigree, kinetic wire formations in the section "Light and Movement" - alongside contemporaries such as Jean Tinguely or the Zero Group.

After he began teaching as a professor of sculpture at the Gesamthochschule Kassel in 1970, a change occurred in his creative work. His individual artistic production was replaced by collective work with students in a class: the "Atelier Kramer" was born.

The lively exchange in the "Atelier Kramer" gave rise to the twelve curious hand puppets made of papier-mâché and fabric, which have now been added to the documenta archiv's collection - as a perfect complement to Kramer's estate.

In a satirically exaggerated manner, the puppets, some of which are equipped with whistles and horns, represent the spectrum of society and its classes: Among others, there are the judge, the priest, soldiers and officers with pimple caps and helmets, two policemen, a teacher and a student.

Thanks to important information provided by the artist Wolfgang Hahn, Harry Kramer's former assistant, we know that part of the collection of figures can be attributed to the examination work of the now deceased Kramer student Wolfgang Rink.