Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2007 - 55

preference. Their choices, nonetheless, seem to have been shaped by a
different kind of predilection.
The jury presents its decisions early in the Quadrennial, on Monday,
the ﬁfth day, and this rush to judgment, considering the sheer volume of
work to consider, increases the inﬂuence of how a design performs during the preceding four days. A design's chances of winning, in fact, depend
on how it performs at the PQ itself and not only, or perhaps even primarily, on the stage for which it was originally created. Consider the different
ways in which designs were staged.
Perhaps the most inﬂuential factor on the impact of a design is the
framework of a nation's exhibition. A key difference in exhibitions centered on the number of designs and designers presented. Some, like those
of the USA and Ireland, featured numerous designers and gave a sense
of the leading designs across a country in
various contexts. These presented those
judged best or, like the UK's, offered representative examples of different types and
environments of work. A second category
(Poland, Russia) displayed the work of a
small group of designers one assumes are
the "cream of the crop." A third group,
however, was devoted to the work of a
single designer and revealed it through
multiple images. This was the case of Portugal and Slovakia, whose subjects won
top honors. A few exhibits, in fact, concentrated on a single design. The second
and third types of exhibit, from which all
the winners emerged, offer more than just
greater space for their limited subjects.
They also allowed exhibition of the process of a design, either in its creation (Latvia) or its function during performance
(South Africa, Germany, Taiwan). These
approaches also enabled display of multiple designs by a designer (Mexico, Slovakia, Portugal).
A second division between exhibition types centered on media employed, particularly on the use of electronic means. Video was common,
and its use ranged from exhibitions like Estonia's in which it was the sole
medium (on three related and complementary screens) to, more commonly, an accompaniment to photographs and other media, often using
multiple small screens. Also, some exhibitions used it to feature an aspect of design or provide a survey of designs. A few exhibitors employed
digital technology to offer searchable, interactive databases of additional
designs and information. Some exhibits, however, chose to incorporate
no video or digital media. Where video was used, it often provoked discussion of the medium's merits. While its ability to show a design in the
process of performance was valued, attendees noted that it not only takes
time to watch but dictates time, sequence, focus, and perspective, a prescriptiveness seen at odds with the spectatorial freedom of theatre. Also,
is one impacted primarily by the work or the video techniques to show
it? Its most effective role seems as an ancillary, supportive component.
Intriguingly, both of the winning exhibitions made no use of video or
digital media, perhaps because of the time they take as well as the way

THEATRE

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY
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2007

they seemed to often undermine the unity of an exhibit. Video's processrevealing strength, however, may have aided some individual design and
technology winners. The tension between the traditional and the modern/
technological not only manifested itself in exhibits but seemed to intrigue
the judges, many of whose award choices contained the idea in a general
way (Slovakia, Taiwan) or expressed it as the threat of a modernized and
rationalistic West to other values and cultures (South Africa, Spain, Germany, Mexico).
One critical way in which exhibits varied was the degree to which
they were constructed around a theme. Some at this PQ, that of the USA
included, expressed no particular theme but seemed most concerned
with functionality, presentation, and diversity. Related to this approach,
exhibits like Ireland's and Taiwan's expressed mood, location, or strong

Russia: Golden Triga. Mart Kitayev and Mikhail
Platonov's set for The Three Sisters.
sculptural qualities but not within the frame of a particular concept. Next
were those that used a theme to provide a conceptual framework that was
not necessarily related to the designs themselves, such as Japan's sushi
bar context where one "consumed" the designs or Israel's replication of
the controversial West Bank wall separating "Jewish" lands from Palestinian. Lastly, a few integrated the design of the exhibit with the designs
themselves, as did Golden Triga winner, Russia, which had the effect of
increasing focus on the exhibit itself.
Another difference that may have inﬂuenced award selection was the
focal point of an exhibition. Mexico's, for example, emphasized costumes
more than did most, offering renderings, photos, production images,
video, and actual costumes artfully displayed in open frames that allowed
viewing from inside and outside the exhibit's walls. The winning Russian
exhibit was symbolic of costuming's general position: it featured difﬁcult to
decipher costume designs glued onto the surface of a table half of whose
legs sat, intentionally, out of the exhibit's liquid environment. Few mentioned lighting at all. The USA exhibition was notable in its plurality in this

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