"Curating amidst compounding crises : the Lebanese contribution to the 2023 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space”

in Theatralia Journal of Theatre Studies
Volume 27, 2024 - No. 1: RARE Visions of Performance Design and Scenography

Hadi E. Damien was invited as guest contributor to the Theatralia Journal of Theatre Studies’ special issue on the Prague Quadrennial 2023. He reflects on the process of curating the contribution of Lebanon amidst compounding crises, highlights curatorial choices and decisions, details the creative process, reviews the role of public institutions, analyzes dynamics of the Lebanese diaspora, and introduces a PQ 2027 project for the Arab world.

Special thanks to Aziza Kadyri, Věra Velemanová, Svitlana Shurma, and Josh Overton.

Abstract: Hadi E. Damien writes about curating the Lebanese participation in PQ 2023 at a time Lebanon was going through compounding crises amidst an international climate of recession and political polarisation. In this essay, he explains how the Lebanese crises commanded austerity at PQ, and reiterates the importance of public institutions. He first focuses on the Exhibition of Countries and Regions (ECR), tells how the ECR designer was selected, outlines the evolution of the concept, lays out the quest for funds, and concludes this first section with the common and shared sensitivity between Beirut and Prague. The second focus is on the Student Exhibition that was awarded “Best Student Exhibition in PQ 2023”, and which he illustrates in detail, from the selection of the designer to the dynamic with the curator. Hadi stops at the hazards of curating alone, and speaks to the importance of back up plans while championing public institutions. The SE concept takes the reader on a journey of change as action & reaction, movement & effort; upcycling as reconstruction, assemblage & market economy; texts & language; with consideration to the part that the visitors of the exhibition play. This second section concludes with an extensive analysis of the Lebanese diaspora from the angles of education, emotions, and exile. The third section of the paper is entitled ‘Curating the Future’, in which Damien sets expectations from and for curators, and announces a PQ 2027 project for the Arab world. He questions what curators are for, what role they play in “Internationalizing versus cowering inward”, and how they could exhibit, host, and export in a time of financial recession. He then concludes the essay on how to curate the balancing act, based on this expansive practice. There is much to learn from Lebanon.

Hadi Damien (2024) Curating amidst compounding crises : the Lebanese contribution to the 2023 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, Theatralia, 27:1, 236-266, https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2024-1-11