Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2019 - 13

knowledge that the curators find inspirational and chose to focus on in the exhibition.
The curatorial team sought out design work that represents significant artistic achievement from the previous four
years and that showcases what was referred to as the cultural DNA of the artist
behind the work. The exhibit primarily
featured work from a variety of genres,
presentation styles, disciplines, regions,
and institutions. This process included
active outreach to acquire a broad crosssection of designers.
In addition to the selected work, the
exhibition includes an oral history of the
designers, positioning them in relationship to the field and their own work.
This includes the designer's own cultural
background, their connection to performance design, their mentors and influencers, who they have mentored and
influenced, and how these factors have
affected their approach to design and the
designs themselves.

Building Bridges, Not Walls

In October of 2017, the PQ Commission
invited curators and long-time collaborators in PQ initiatives to Porous Borders,
a three-day symposium in Prague on
international curatorial practices. This
event consisted of a series of panels and
talks on the curation of scenography, and
a site-visit to Výstaviště (during a dental
conference). The vision statement for
this convening included a quote that
would influence the thinking of many
exhibiting countries: "We would like to
encourage a dialogue, collaboration,
and an environment that is purely scenographic, where every element, including
liminal spaces and spaces in between,
have a meaning, where every shape and
object was carefully chosen with a purpose. We are not interested in creating a
series of small exhibition sub-spaces, but
rather one scenographic landscape, containing distinct places where a different
kind of experience is offered."
As the U.S. curatorial team discussed how this idea would inform selection of the design for the exhibition,
the team also imagined that this could
extend beyond our design to our relationship to other exhibiting countries. At
a time when it felt like the U.S. was becoming increasingly closed off, could the
curators use the PQ and the principles

of collaboration to provide a counter narrative?
A note: I actually live in Canada.
I moved to Toronto in 2012 to teach at
York University in Toronto. The irony is
not lost on me that my involvement in
the curation of the U.S. Exhibition has
been while living abroad. I am also on
the board of the Associated Designers
of Canada (ADC), which organizes the
PQ exhibition for anglophone Canada,
and, conveniently, live in the same part
of Toronto as Snezana Pesic, the curator for English-speaking Canada. Given
my proximity to the development of the
Canadian exhibition, I floated the idea of
collaborating.
The ADC's equivalent in Quebéc,
L'Association Des Professionnels Des
Arts De La Scène Du Québec (APASQ),
organizes the provinces exhibition at the
PQ. It is traditionally exhibited along with
the ADC's exhibition for (English speaking) Canada, but curated independently.
The concept of the Quebec exhibition
was rooted in the idea of sustainable production and ecoscenography. I research
and teach on the issue of sustainability
in design and production, and for the last
five years I have also taught workshops
in Montreal as well. So, based on our
affiliations and interests, I also found
myself quickly connected with Jasmine
Catudal, Quebec's curator.
Based on an existing and similar
sense of cross-border collaboration,
USITT has been working with the designers from Mexico to build bridges for
a while. Readers may have seen the exhibition of Mexican Scenography at the
National Conference in Fort Lauderdale
in 2018. Producer for the Mexican Exhibition at the PQ, Carolina Jiménez, regularly attends the conference and was
a 2018 Student Ambassador Mentor.
Through these connections, the exhibiting countries of North America were
able to meet and link exhibits together.
During scheduling discussions, the
representatives from North America
requested that the four countries and
regions be placed together to enable
a collaborative approach and a North
American Cluster in the exhibition hall.
The formation of a cluster composed of
the North American countries and regions (Canada, Mexico, and the United
States, with the province of Quebec) was
a logical step given the early vision of

this PQ to create a borderless and open
space. Each exhibition was an effort to
explore design work, heritage, and history. And though there are clearly political
and cultural differences between our regions, the curators saw this as an opportunity to build bridges, instead of a wall.
When the international team came
together to develop an approach to the
exhibition, they also developed shared
language for what became the North
American Cluster. This language stated
that, "In this time of polarization and political divisions, while world superpowers are building walls and reinforcing
borders, we chose to focus on communication and exchange, the essential tool of
our collaborative art. It is our responsibility as artists to reflect on ways to build
bridges between our countries."
This shared sentiment was collaboratively written and shared in English,
Spanish, French, and Czech. It offered
an introduction to slate of shared programming that included a series of seven
sessions that were each focused on topics that each curator had considered, and
for which each country selected artists
attending from each country and region.
This approach provided an opportunity
to speak with attendees from across the
PQ about common issues impacting the
practice of design in each of the regions,
while also revealing how the specific
contexts created unique approaches,
spanning professional networks, theatre
communities, education, and resources.
Teams discussed ideas of cultural appropriation, immigration, access to and use
of technology, and the development of individual and shared aesthetics.
The program also included a reception for the North American Cluster.
From the beginning of the Quadrennial
in 1967, one thing that has been minimally changed is the program of "National Days" in which curators would present
the ideas behind their country's pavilion
along with a reception. Sometimes these
are in or adjacent to the county's exhibition, other times they may be in space set
aside for a reception, or even in a country's embassy. The U.S. chose not to host
a National Day in this PQ and focused
instead on supporting the reception for
the Cluster, where each country shared
the ideas behind their pavilion and the
rationale for the cluster.
In addition to the program, the
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Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2019

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