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While theater performances animate and bring objects to life on stage, museums transform objects into lifeless museum pieces. In the series Grassi invites #3: Masken! the GRASSI Museum of Ethnology invites theater producers to reactivate and re-examine the many masks of the museum. The aim is to create a "world theater of masks." The presentation of masks, the reversal of roles and the immersion into other personalities is a worldwide phenomenon. Masks disguise people and transform them into other beings: spirits, ancestors, gods, mythical figures, animals as well as superheroes or bank robbers. They also offer anonymity and create fear in people. The occasion and use of masks are just as diverse as the characters they represent: as theater and carnival masks, masks that embody ancestors or are worn during initiations, as well as death or protective masks.

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In this experimental and sensorial presentation, the visitors choose their own paths with a flashlight and in turn illuminate the phenomenon of masks from different perspectives. During the three-month presentation, puppeteers and theater artists will also be illuminating the masks in different ways. The puppeteer Michael Vogel from Westflügel Leipzig, for example, blurs the boundaries between the viewers and the masks. On the other hand, Alexej Vancl from the Figuro Theater uses a performative approach for bringing the masks to life.

Step by step, from the premiere on 15 December 2016, Grassi invites # 3 transforms itself into a stage on which a lively world of theater masks emerges through performance, theater and dance.