Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2007 - 37

The Prague Quadrennial was founded forty

bird's-eye
view
of the

2007

by David Rodger
exhibition photographs by Richard Finkelstein
36

THEATRE

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY
F

2007

years ago, in 1967. It was a bold gathering of theatre designers and architects from twenty countries for the purpose of sharing their achievements
and their sense of community. In 2007, the quadrennial gathering has lost
none of its boldness, it has been energized by the participation of literally
thousands of students from around the world, and the community has
grown to ﬁfty-ﬁve countries. The total attendance for the 2007 PQ was
estimated at 23,000 visiors from seventy-nine countries.
PQ has three major sections: national exhibitions, architecture and
technology exhibits, and displays of student design organized into exhibits
by their schools.
In addition, the Prague Quadrennial partners with the Education
Commission of OISTAT to produce Scenofest. This celebration of theatrical creativity-literaly a festival of scenography-began in 1994 as a
weeklong series of workshops designed to bring students and professionals together. At ﬁrst it was not connected to the PQ but in 2003 Pamela
Howard proposed that Scenofest provide an enhanced experience for
students attending PQ. The 2003 Scenofest was an explosion of special
exhibits, lectures, presentations, workshops, and theatre tours running
concurrently with the PQ. The 2007 Scenofest, remarkably, was even bigger and livelier. It ﬁlled the Central Hall of PQ's home, Prague's Industrial
Palace, and spilled out into three other venues including a theatre, a museum, and the streets of Prague.
In the 2007 Prague Quadrennial, the National Exhibitions Section
included exhibits from Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong S.A.R.
China, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia,
Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paciﬁc Islands,
Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Republic of South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan,
Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Venezuela.
The Architecture and Technology Section included exhibits from
Australia, Brazil, Canada Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United
Kingdom, and United States of America.
The Student Section included exhibits from Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong
S.A.R. China, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zeland, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey,
United Kingdom, and United States of America.
On the following pages, among Richard Finkelstein's images of the
exhibits and the artwork, are the names of all the countries that brought
national exhibits to Prague along with each country's exhibit theme and
the names of the curators and exhibit designers. Images from some exhibits appear in other articles and are so noted. In a few cases, a country
is represented by images of its student exhibit, and in four cases, unfortunately, there were no good photos to represent a country's contribution to
the 2007 Prague Quadrennial.

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