Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991 - 11

991 PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

PQ'91: A

OVERVIEW

BY ERIC FIELDING

he various arricles in
rhis special issue of
TD6-Twill arrempr ro
record and reporr
borh a sense of rhe
scope and rhe derail
of rhe 1991 edirion of rhe premiere
inrernarional exhibirion of rhearre
design-rhe Prague Quadrennial.
Nor an easy rask under any circumsrance. The reader will encounrer
personal reacrions ro individual
works of design and ro a variery of
exhibirion presenrarion sryles. There
will even be conflicring opinions and
conrrasring poinrs of view on parricular exhibirs. This is nor a complere
reporr or even a balanced one. Bur ir
should give rhe reader ar leasr some
sense of rhe considerable scale of rhis
tmporranr evenr.
Our amhors volunreered from rhe
ranks of rhe American delegarion ro
Prague (Q wrire on an area or aspecr of
rhe PQ which caughr rheir arrenrion.
This means rhar nor all counrries or
areas of rhe exhibirion received equal
(or any) arrenrion. Some who had
iniriallv expressed an inreresr in wriring were ulrimarely unable ro conrribure which lefr addirional holes in
our coverage, rhe mosr obvious case
being rhe archirecrural exhibirions.
In viewing PQ'91-which was
open (Q rhe public 10-30 June 1991-ir
became immediarely obvious rhar rhe
currenr world-wide economic recession has had a very real impact on
producrion in rhe rhearre and on rhe
individual narion's abiliries ro effecrivelv exhibir rhe work of rheir
respecrive rhearre communiries. The
exhibirions ar PQ'91 were considerable smaller in size and in scope rhan
previous Quadrennials. The "smallness" of rhe various narional exhibirs
was cerrainly due in large parr ro rhe

limirarions of space inherenr ar rhe
exhibirion venue: rhe Palace of
Culrure. Bur alrhough rhe cliche suggesrs rhar "good rhings come in small
packages," rhar did not, for the most
parr, prove rrue for many of the
inrernational exhibitions at PQ'91.
Instead of being distilled and
crysralized displays of a selecr few of
rhe finesr pieces of design from rhe
previous five years, many of rhe
narional exhibirs simply seemed ro
be arremprs ro do rhe besr wirh a difficulr siruarion-borh physical and
economic. The "smallness" manifesr
irself mosr frequenrly in rhe facr rhar
rhere was considerably less "hard"
arrwork on display rhan usual. There
were a lor more phorographs and a
lor fewer maquerres and mannequins. This lack of real arr cerrainIy diminished rhe deprh and richness
normally experienced ar rhe previous
six Quadrennials. Having had rhe
rare priviledge of viewing and documen ring four of rhe seven PQs, ir
was disappoinringly easy ro conclude
rhar, in spire of irs many srrengrhs,
rhis was rhe "pooresr" of rhe Prague
Quad ren n ials.
Cosrume design seemed parricularly under-represenred wirhin rhis
year's Quadrennial.
or only were
rhere considerably fewer cosrumed
mannequins, rhere weren'r a lor of
renderings on rhe walls. Some exhibirions-including rhe Golden
Trigue Award-winning Brirish exhibir-didn'r have any cosrumes ar all. Ir
was nor surprising when rhe awards
were announced rhar no Gold t\ledal
was given for cosrume design ar
PQ'91.
Anorher rhing which became
immediarely obvious was rhar rhe
Golden Trigue Award-winning exhibirion by rhe United Srares ar

PQ'87-an environmenral exhibirion of four archerypal design srudios
filled wirh a rich mass of design work
in process-had had a profound
influence on many of rhe nariona]
exhibirs mounred rhis year. Ir was
cerrainly nor rhe firsr environmenral
exhibirion ever seen ar PQ-rhe
Golden Trigue was won by Wesr
Germany in 1983 for a beauriful
exhibirion of designs for rhe operas
of Leos Janacek moutHed wirhin a
reconsrrucrion of a ser for Kdta
Kaballovd-bur rhar so many of rhe
1991 exhibirs were environmenral in
narure could nor be seen as coincidenral. Unforrunarely, in some
insrances, rhe design work being
exhibired was losr or overshadowed
by rhe environmenral exhibirion
space.
Documenring an evenr such as
rhe Prague Quadrennial is a nearly
impossible rask. Dealing wirh reflecrions, phorographing phorographs
and working under poor lighring condirions made ir a parricular challenge. The new venue ar rhe Palace
of Culrure made ir worse rhan ususal.
The exhibirions were spread over
four floors of lobby (and parking
garage) space. The exrremely low florescenr-lir ceilings made ir impossible ro ger overview phoros. And
where rhar wasn'r a problem, you
were shooring inro huge glass windows, which provided a specracular
panorama of Prague, bur cerrainly
nor ideal condirions ro view or phorograph arrwork.
Bur in spire of irs weaknesses rhis
rime, rhe Prague Quadrennial has once
again provided a unique opporruniry
ro carch a glimpse of whar is happening in rhearres all over rhe world, jusr
as ir has ar each of irs seven mounrings
over rhe pasr 24 years.

TD&T

1991

FAll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991