On its 15th edition this 2023 which took place last June 8-18 2023, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design (PQ) welcomed its approximate 11,000 accredited visitors and one-day ticket holders to its exhibition spaces at DAMU.

Text and Photo from Prague Quadrennial 2023
July 10, 2023

On its 15th edition this 2023 which took place last June 8-18 2023, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design (PQ) welcomed its approximate 11,000 accredited visitors and one-day ticket holders to its exhibition spaces at DAMU (Theater Faculty, The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague); Trade Fair Palace of the National Gallery Prague; and Holešovice Market, which displayed significant exhibitions from countries and regions as well as student exhibitions from over 40 countries last June. Since its inception in 1967, PQ has been at the forefront of performance design and space through immersive and innovative experiences for its global audiences.

This year, the Philippines had its sole and official exhibition entry, curated by Ellawyn Cruz and Alain Zedrick Camiling, at PQ through its Student Exhibition category. Supported by various entities such as the De La Salle- College of Saint Benilde; the Philippine Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic; National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA); Metrobank Foundation; and many other individual supporters, the exhibition ‘Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan’/ ‘Give what you can, take what you need’ received the Intercultural Exchange in the Student Exhibition award for “skillfully bring[ing] people together in a joyful intercultural exchange of “knowledge” and “gestures of care” and reminds us of the importance of holding space for one another in a world that’s in desperate need for compassion”.

Photos from left to right: 1.)The exhibition features a karaoke component that serves as a performance space among its visitors and participants from all over the world. | Photo by Libor Galia for PQ2023; 2. The exhibition involved daily installation and dismantling due to the frequent rains | 3.)Photo from Exhibition Team; Photo by Adam Mracek for PQ2023

The Philippine entry is a (literal) community pantry installation inspired by Ana Patricia Non’s initiative in 2021 which served as a mutual aid among communities during the pandemic. It also brought works, through postcards, by Benilde’s School of Arts, Culture, and Performance students from various batches, specifically designs for costumes, performances, sets, films,

“We promised a RARE experience, and I believe we delivered. It was a delightful reward to witness visitors and professionals alike enjoying the exhibitions, performances, projects, and PQ Talks packed daily. All our locations were abuzz with activity, open to anyone willing to learn more about the creative world of performance design,” shares Markéta Fantová, the Artistic Director of Prague Quadrennial. This year’s theme is RARE: “art springing out of new ideas, materials, artistic approaches, and design practices that connect to the human level from within your environment, with its genius loci and unique situation”. With this, PQ challenged practitioners to use their rare imagination and creativity to “envision what the world and theater world could look like in the post-pandemic future”.

Apart from Philippine participation in the student exhibition component, practitioners and professionals from the Philippines also took part in PQ Talks as speakers such as Eric Dela Cruz in Where to From Here?: Towards the Future of Scenographic Practices, Ellawyn Cruz in Pedagogical Strategies in Response to the Global Pandemic, and Julia Pacificador in Teaching Performance Design with a Social Justice Lens, all joining international panels convened by PQ.

The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design (PQ) is organized by the Arts and Theater Institute in Prague, Czech Republic. Its 15th edition ran from June 8-18, 2023 at DAMU (Theater Faculty, The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague); Trade Fair Palace of the National Gallery Prague; and Holešovice Market where there were around 11,000 accounted visitors from all over the world. More information can be found at https://pq.cz.

CURATORIAL TEXT AND ORGANIZATION

Interconnections between lives and relationships, memories and remnants, closures and continuities, histories and positionalities are explored in discourses on everyday aspects, suggesting networks and networked relationships. In the Philippines, some of the manifestations of these networks and networked relationships in recent years are the local honesty shops and the emergence of community pantries during the pandemic. These also point to notions of kapwa (connecting with others or being the other) and bayanihan (being a bayan or town, reorienting towards communal solidarity), which point to gestures of care.

These are translated through a makeshift community pantry of local goods and reproductions of artworks through postcards that the audience can get copies of in exchange for whatever they feel like giving; a karaoke system to channel the celebration of such solidarity and hospitality as seen in common Filipino gatherings; and an inflatable air dancer as a metaphor for promoting courage and optimism. All three circle back to networks that drive and connect communities, care and collaboration.

Photo on the left: On-site curatorial and design team. From L-R: Co-curators Alain Zedrick Camiling and Ellawyn Cruz; Design collaborators Hershey Malinis and Joaquin Aranda. Photo on the right: Philippine Exhibition Curators Ellawyn Cruz and Alain Zedrick Camiling receiving the Intercultural Exchange in the Student Exhibition Award at the Prague Quadrennial 2023 | Photo by Jakub Hrab for PQ2023

The title ‘Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan’/’Give what you can, take what you need’ is taken from Ana Patricia Non’s community pantry movement in the Philippines in 2021, when she initiated a food cart with a humble cardboard sign in Maginhawa Street, Quezon City. The movement served as a mutual aid in response to the pandemic struggles, revealing a strong social solidarity that gained traction and inspired many local and global communities.

In this exhibition, performance-making, scenography, and curatorial practice are perceived as propellers of these networks and relationships that connect bodies of knowledge, gestures of care, creative and artistic practices, and encounters through atmospherics.

Curators: Ellawyn Cruz and Alain Zedrick Camiling

Design collaborators: Hershey Malinis, Joaquin Aranda, Tuxqs Rutaquio, and Magdalena de Leon

Students: Benilde School of Arts, Culture, and Performance Batches 118, 119, 120, and 121

Acknowledgments/ auxiliary partners: De La Salle- College of Saint Benilde; The Philippine Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic; National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA); Metrobank Foundation; and other individual supporters.

LINKS:

The Philippines at PQ: https://pq.cz/pq-2023-info/projects-2023/student-exhibition-pq/the-philippines-magbigay-ayon-sa-kakayahan-kumuha-batay-sa-pangangailangan-give-what-you-can-take-what-you-need/

Prague Quadrennial website: https://pq.cz

Full list of awarded exhibitions and projects: https://pq.cz/pq-2023-awards/