Prague Quadrennial

The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ) will again invade the center of Prague as well as the city's outskirts for 11 days beginning June 16. The event, formerly known as the PQ International Exhibition of Scenography and Theater Architecture, is dedicated to dramatic art, with the goal of focusing on neglected artists to show experts, theatergoers, viewers and regular pedestrians contemporary methods of dealing with theater design, lighting, sound or stage architecture.

"With the evolution of contemporary art, the last several quadrennials have naturally shifted away from traditional theater and toward performance, installation and visual events," says the quadrennial's executive director, Daniela Pařízková. "Still, its main purpose remains the presentation of the visual aspect of theater: theater design, scenography, costumes, lighting and sound design, as well as multimedia, so frequently used today, but which nonetheless must always be used as part of a performance."

The International Competitive Exhibition's main display is located in the National Gallery's Veletržní palác, where more than 60 countries and regions will present their best visual artists working for the stage. Other regular sections will focus on students' work, architecture and costumes. But each PQ also offers something extra - this year, Intersection: Intimacy and Spectacle.

Intersection is based in the National Theater courtyard, where 30 box-like stages have been built by Israeli architect Oren Sagiv, who says he is trying to create a space where different ideas can meet. Half of these boxes will be occupied by live performances. Choreographer Josef Nadj, for example, will live in one of the boxes for all 11 days of the festival.

"Being directly on the streets and public spaces allows you to link ... with a broad public," Pařízková says. "Above all, we're interested in how it is possible to newly conceive these spaces, use them as stages, find a new context and appearance of a place we walk by regularly."

Although festival organizers claim that all works of art or performances at PQ must be connected to theater, in some cases the line between traditional theater and contemporary art is not very clear. But PQ is not trying to define the differences, rather trying to show various approaches.

"This year, we present also genres working with live action and space. Viewers will see this mainly in Intersection boxes in the courtyard, where 'scenographia' of many 'nontheatrical' visual artists will be," Pařízková says.

Various activities can be seen in the boxes including choreography, labyrinths, sequences of theater acts, sound installations and dance classes, as well as a bar and night cinema. It is likely some of these boxes will change over the course of the festival, as attendants are expected to show their creativity, as well. For this reason, ticketholders will be allowed to return to the courtyard.

"Interactivity is an important feature of this year's PQ, but our aim is not to create a purely physical interactivity or the kind of interactivity provided by new media. We want to pull audiences into the action, but not pull them out of their chairs and onto the stage as volunteers," said the quadrennial's artistic director, Sodja Lotker.

The list of participants is an international who's-who of contemporary theater. The work of American-Russian duo Ilya and Emilia Kabakov is characterized by a fusion of everyday themes and a conceptual approach to theater and visual arts. The Czech Republic will be represented by photographer Bohdan Holomíček and the painter Josef Bolf, who has prepared a project called Sklad/Storage combining installation, video and performance pieces.

Not all of the action takes place in the center of Prague, however. The Bohnice medical facility, for example, will host Les enfants terribles, based on a novel by Jean Cocteau that Philip Glass turned into a musical performance. This will be directed by Alice Nellis and conducted by Petr Kofroň. Another option is a display of works by the legendary English scenographer Edward Gordon Craig at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery.

"I am really looking forward to the moment when the audience will finally come to all our planned exhibitions and events, and we will see their response," Pařízková said.

Filip Šenk can be reached at
fsenk@praguepost.com