NEW YORK – The creation of an exhibit representing the U.S. at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space requires a long lead time. In fact, USITT has already announced that it is seeking design submissions for PQ 2015, set for June of that year. The submission deadline for individuals and teams for an architectural and sculptural space with the theme, Art in Performance Design: Dreams of Here and Now is Feb. 8, 2013.
More details from USITT (http://www.usitt.org/content.asp?pl=378&sl=30&contentid=422):
NEW YORK – The quest to create an exhibit representing the US at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is a long process that starts now – with a new competition to design the exhibit space.
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is seeking design submissions from individuals and teams for an architectural and sculptural space with the theme, Art in Performance Design: Dreams of Here and Now.
The winning design will house the US National Exhibit at the 2015 PQ, among the world’s largest design events. It has been held every four years in Prague, Czech Republic, since 1967. This is the first time USITT has held a design competition for the national exhibit in its four decades of representing the US at PQ.
USITT has recruited an all-star team of theatrical designers – Tony Walton, Kevin Rigdon and Carrie Robbins – to adjudicate the competition and serve as curators for the exhibit’s content, said the project’s Artistic Director, Markéta Fantová, an acclaimed Czech designer and USITT’s Vice President for International Activities.
The winning exhibit space should be not just a gallery, but a work of art in itself, Fantová and Rigdon wrote. “It should reflect the dynamic and diverse landscape of American performance, and celebrate performance design as an art.” The space will be used to exhibit a curated show of scenic, lighting, costume and performance designs presented in a multimedia format that creates an interactive experience for the spectator.
Exhibit design submissions must follow competition guidelines and specifications including a footprint of approximately 30 by 36 feet, a materials budget of $25,000, and the ability to tour to other venues.
Submission deadline is Feb. 8, 2013, and finalists will be notified by Feb. 22. Finalists will have their concepts displayed at USITT’s 2013 Annual Conference & Stage Expo, March 20-23, in Milwaukee. The winner will be announced in the spring of 2013.
Submissions may be made on the USITT website, where complete guidelines for the exhibit space design can be found.
The winner of the 2015 competition will work closely with Fantová and her team of curators to take the design from concept to reality. The curators will choose the exhibit’s content in summer 2014, and the entire exhibit will be constructed and shipped to Prague by the spring of 2015. The 13th edition of the PQ will be held in June 2015.
USITT, the professional association for the performing arts and entertainment design and technology industry, has organized and underwritten America’s participation in the PQ since 1975. Besides the USA National stage design exhibit, USITT also oversees US exhibits to the PQ in Architecture and Student design. It also holds the theatre design and technology industry’s signature conference and trade show, the USITT Annual Conference & Stage Expo, to be held in Milwaukee, WI next March.
The U.S. exhibit for PQ 2011 was titled “From the Edge” and featured work that pushed the limits of performance design in the U.S., including Tony?award winning designer Kevin Adams’ lighting for the Broadway show, American Idiot, Paul Chan’s Waiting for Godot set in post?Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, and scenes from Hell House, a New York take on the Evangelical Christian “haunted houses” that aim to scare teens “straight” with depictions of pregnant cheerleaders and gay men dying of AIDS.
