Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1984 - 14

The International Jury

PQ83
by Jarka Burian

Before describing the operations of
this year's Prague Quadrennial jury, it
may be useful to sketch in the broader
context within which the jury is organized. The PQ as a whole is an activity
under the jurisdiction of the Czech
Ministry of Culture, which appoints a
PQ Committee and also a Commissioner General to oversee the professional
and administrative aspects of the exhibition. This year the Committee had fifteen members, including scenographers
Josef Svoboda and Ladislav Vychodil.
The Commissioner General was Dr.
Eva Soukupova, whose regular career
position is that of head of the Theatre
Institute of Prague.
The Committee delegates the lengthy
and painstakingly detailed organizational work of the PQ to the staff of the
Theatre Institute, under Soukupova's
direction. It is the Committee, however,
that appoints the jury for the PQ and
issues the rules for its proceedings.
The salient points of the rules include the size of the jury: it is to consist
of thirteen members, including two from
Czechoslovakia; the members are to
have "necessary expert knowledge";
decisions are the result of an absolute
majority of votes; a quorum consists
of two-thirds of all members; the jury
elects from its members a chair, vicechair, and secretary; the chair votes only to break a tie; minutes are kept of all
jury deliberations. Also-and by no
means least important-is the stipulation that the jury "will discuss its final
decisions with the PQ Committee,"
which implie , perhaps, an analogy to
an academic department making certain recommendations concerning tenure and promotions to the upper echelons of a college administration. The
final point in the rules underscores the
ultimate authority of the PQ Commit12

Elephant Man by
Kaoru
akamori
(Japan). Winner of
Diploma of Honor in
iVlemorium for his
Ii fe's work.

tee: "The announcement of prizes and
their awarding will be carried out by the
PQ Committee 1983."
The jury's task is to judge and assess
the exhibited items; specifically, it is to
arrive at decisions related to awards in
the specified categories of competition:
-Main prize of the Golden Trigue for
the best foreign national exhibit as a
whole.
-Gold medals and 10,000 Crowns for
the best foreign stage designer and
best foreign costume designer.
-Gold medals and 10,000 Crowns for
the best Czechoslovak stage designer
and best Czechoslovak costume
designer.
-A gold medal and 10,000 Crowns for
the best example of theatrical architecture (may be an individual or an
exhibit as a whole; may be a proposal
or a completed structure; open to
Jarka M. Burian
Heinz Bruno Gallee
Helmut Grosser
Otto Kahler
Kotaro Maki
Paul Mignot
Rose-r-.larie r-.loudoues
il Gunnar i1lson
George Paro
i\lilica I . Pozarskaja
Agostinho O. RodrigueL
Zenobiusz Strzelecki
Josef Svoboda
Ladisla\' Vychodil

Theatre Design & Technology/USITT/Spring 1984

Czechoslovakia as well as foreigners).
-A gold medal and 10,000 Crowns to
the best stage and/or costume design
related to an announced theme.
These are the mandated awards. At
its discretion, however, the jury may
also award an unspecified number of
silver medals and diplomas of honorable
mention. All stage and costume designs
had to represent actual productions realized within the previous five years.
As to the makeup of this year's jury,
there were in fact fourteen jurors; the
slight discrepancy from the cited thirteen perhaps relating to the chairperon's separation from voting; i.e., there
were thirteen "voting" jurors. The
makeup of the jury was indeed international and blended designers, architects,
technicians, directors, and critics/historians, as the following alphabetical
list makes clear:

USA
Austria
West Germany
East Germany
Japan
Belgium
France
Sweden
Yugosla via
SSR
Brazil
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia

critic/historian, director
designer, pedagogue
technical director, journal editor
designer
designer
architect
critic/hi torian
architect
director
nit ic / historian
theat rologue
nit ic / historian, designer
designer, architeCl, pedagogue
designer, pedagogue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1984