"The PQ in Shape, in Core, in Means"

Hadi E. Damien reflects on his 2011 and 2015 PQ experiences, in a filmed intervention in the frame of the Symposium "Transformations of the Prague Quadrennial since 1999" on Friday 18 March 2016, in Prague, in the Czech Republic. The intervention entitled "The PQ in Shape, in Core, in Means" was later edited to be featured in the publication "Transformations of Prague Quadrennial from 1990 to 2015".

Abstract: Whether the culmination of a four-year work in progress or a social event, the Prague Quadrennial has been calling curators and artists to engage in social interactions and approach scenography as an experience rather than a display. The PQ pushes the world out to the streets, thus to the early theatre expression in the public space, under the sun, in the open-air, and dubs it “expanded scenography”. This is a reflection on the genre of the exhibition (Is it an installation, a “statement”, a potpourri of what the curators believe to be the best scenography works in their country/region of origin? Is the emphasis put on the display of the exhibition or on the exhibited theatre works?), its content (What are we exhibiting? Is the exhibited work thematic, in relation to the PQ?), and its end (Why are we exhibiting? What about post-PQ events?). Other tracks offer ideas to sharpen the branding of the PQ, think its financial sustainability and widen its marketing (+ media) visibility in the frame of a suggested timeline for the upcoming edition. A PQ in its future instalments that conveys an emotion, a feeling, a reaction, in addition to silent pauses and moments to reflect and think, without useless intellectualisation.