Portuguese official representation at the 12th Prague Quadrennial
16–26 June 2011
Opening:
16 June 2011
Venue:
lote 2A, Grand Hall, Veletrzni Palace, Prague
Organisation and Production: Direcção-Geral das Artes | Ministério da Cultura Directorate-General for the Arts / Ministry of Culture
Curator and author: João Brites
The Directorate-General for the Arts of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture invited the director João Brites to officially represent Portugal at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the most prestigious international exhibition in its area, whose art director this year is Sodja Zupanc Lotker. The Prague Quadrennial has been held by the Culture Ministry of the Czech Republic and the Prague Arts and Theatre Institute since 1967 and is currently the only global event set up as an exhibition which along with its parallel activities creates a space for seminars, workshops and gatherings of stage art professionals and students from around the world. This year there are three main sections: Countries and Regions, Students and Architecture.
This is the second time that the Directorate-General for the Arts organises the Portuguese Official Representation at this Quadrennial, reinforcing an institutional action, which has developed a cultural policy meant to promote Portuguese artists with national and international projection. The guest artist in 2007 was João Mendes Ribeiro, who was awarded the gold medal for Best Stage Design.
‘On the Other Side’ is the theme topic of the Official Portuguese Representation at this year’s Quadrennial. Grounded on the work accomplished over more than 30 years by João Brites, along with the O Bando theatre group that he founded, the Portuguese Representation consists of an inseparable set of three interventions in three different places in the city of Prague: ‘From the Back’—a street installation in the historic centre; ‘From Above’—an architectural intervention at St Anne’s Church; and ‘From Within, penetrable work’—an exhibition performance in the Grand Hall of the Veletrzni Palace. ‘On the Other Side’ is the theme linking the three interventions, which include objective material references to O Bando shows titled Essay on Blindness (2004), Clandestine Mourning (2006), Jerusalem (2008) and Quixote – Opera Buffa (2010).
The vertices of the triangle laid out under the skies of Prague are the street installation FROM THE BACK, the architecture intervention FROM ABOVE and the penetrable work FROM WITHIN. Each by itself bears the hope that they develop the principle of Spatial Representation. Their interrelationship marks the desire that the dilemma between architecture and scenography should be able to emerge as a problem of creativity.
Further information: www.dgartes.pt
Image above:
“Os Vivos”, Jacinto Lucas Pires | Photo: Nuno Patinho | Composer: Chopin | Director: João Brites | Costume designer: Clara Bento | Scene designer: Rui Francisco/ João Brites | Theatre: Citemor, Montemor-o-Velho | Premiere date: 19-07-2007.
