OFFICIAL PORTUGUESE REPRESENTATION
AT THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL 2007
ARCHITECTURES ON STAGE
JOÃO MENDES RIBEIRO
Curator and Author – João Mendes Ribeiro
Project – João Mendes Ribeiro
with Catarina Fortuna and Pedro Grandão
Organisation and Production – Instituto das Artes / Ministério da Cultura
Prague Quadrennial 2007 – June 14th > 24th
Opening of the Portuguese Pavilion – June 15th
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PORTUGUESE OFFICIAL REPRESENTATION
AT THE 11TH PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL
Official Opening of the Prague Quadrennial – June 14th, 7pm
Výstavisté Palace (Industrial Palace)
with the participation of:
Pavel Bém – Mayor of Prague
Václav Jehlicka – Minister of Culture
Arnold Aronson – General Commissioner of the Prague Quadrennial
Ondrej Cerný - Director General of the Prague Quadrennial
Opening of the Portuguese Pavilion – June 15th
5pm – 6pm
Opening of João Mendes Ribeiro’s Architectures on Stage exhibition to the public, with a
performance by Companhia Olga Roriz.
The Portuguese Minister for Culture, Isabel Pires de Lima, will be present at the opening.
6.30pm – 7.30pm
Lecture Hall of the Industrial Palace
Presentation of the project Architectures on Stage by João Mendes Ribeiro, author and
curator of the official Portuguese Representation. Participation of Olga Roriz, creator of the
film The Nap.
Launch of the exhibition catalogue.
Industrial Palace – National Section – Portuguese Pavilion
The Prague Quadrennial is open to the public every day between 10am and 6pm.
Further information at www.pq.cz and at http://www.iartes.pt/qp07
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Instituto das Artes/ Ministério da Cultura invited João Mendes Ribeiro to be Portugal’s
official representative at the Prague Quadrennial 2007, which is the most prestigious
international event in the field of scenography and theatre architecture.
For the first time, Instituto das Artes has organised Portugal’s official representation at the
Quadrennial. This edition runs from June 14th to June 24th 2007. The Portuguese Pavilion is
located next to the Czech Republic’s representation in the main corridor of the national
section at the Industrial Palace (Výstavisté Palace).
João Mendes Ribeiro was born in Coimbra in 1960. He graduated in architecture, an area in
which he is considered to be one of the most influential professionals of his generation. He
has gained an impressive reputation in the field of scenography and is seen to have made a
decisive contribution to these two areas in Portugal.
A winner of a number of prizes and awards, both nationally and internationally, João Mendes
Ribeiro’s well-respected career has seen innumerable exhibitions and publications, including
his presence as part of the Portuguese representation at the 9th Venice International
Architecture Biennial in 2004, with the exhibition Metaflux – two generations in recent
Portuguese architecture.
João Tuna
The Jester and His Wife Tonight in Pancomedia, by Botho Strauss
Stage Director João Lourenço, Novo Grupo de Teatro, Teatro Nacional S. João, Porto, 2003
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The Prague Quadriennial has been organised by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech
Republic and by the Institute of Prague Theatre since 1967. Today, it is an event on a global
scale that creates a platform for seminars, workshops, and an opportunity for theatre
professionals to meet while at the same time offering the chance to observe and compare the
global development in this area.
In previous years internationally acclaimed artists such as Tadeusz Kantor, David Borofsky,
Ralph Koltai, Luciano Damiani, Ming Cho Lee or Achim Freyer have participated in the event.
Portugal has also been represented in the areas of scenography and wardrobe by José Manuel
Castanheira, João Brites, Nuno Carinhas and António Casimiro.
In 2007, the Portuguese State sees its first national representation as consolidation of
institutional efforts that have moulded a cultural policy that promotes acclaimed Portuguese
artists, both nationally and internationally.
Prague Industrial Palace
The 11th edition of the Prague Quadrennial, headed by general commissioner Arnold
Aronson, professor at Columbia University School of Arts and Director of the Division of
Theatre, encourages each participating country to develop a theme that reflects the
particularly unique trends of that country’s contemporary theatre culture, integrating it into a
more global perspective on what scenography and theatre architecture might be in the 21st
century.
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THE OFFICIAL PORTUGUESE REPRESENTATION
“(...) In his demand for the essence of the element that identifies the plays and dance pieces
on which he works, [João Mendes Ribeiro] chooses the creation of objects devised according
to the architectonic values of functionality, rigour and rationality that correspond to the
demands of the performance. Those objects, plain and pure, are created on a human scale
and appeal to a relationship of space-performer. It is experience that transforms them, in the
sense that when they are inhabited or used, sometimes metamorphosising on the same stage
or in the recycling process in other projects, they demonstrate a functional beauty and
achieve other poetic dimensions.
Some of these transformable objects were adapted for the current exhibition in which we see
João Mendes Ribeiro’s career so far. Inside the table-suitcases, all ready to travel, the
testament to a career is presented. Alongside them, another modulated object –Reversed
Landscapes – is transformed into an auditorium and gathers images from that path, with
particular attention for Olga Roriz’s film, The Nap, which was made especially for this
exhibition, with a dance piece where the table-suitcases are scenographic objects.”
Jorge Vaz de Carvalho/Adelaide Ginga – Instituto das Arte/Ministério da Cultura.
João Tuna
Don Juan, by Molière
Stage Director Ricardo Pais, Teatro Nacional S. João, Porto, 2006
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João Mendes Ribeiro
Red, Black and Ignorant, by Edward Bond
Stage Director Paulo Castro, Teatro Nacional S. João, Porto, 1998
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Architectures on Stage is the theme proposed by João Mendes Ribeiro for the Portuguese
representation in the national exhibition section of the Prague Quadrennial. With this project
the artist aims to show a number of his scenographic projects, seeking to mirror the
contemporary spirit of hybridisation, experimentalism and contamination between various
artistic areas. Scenography is approached as experimentation of processes and languages
that are common to architecture.
Made up of two parts, this exhibition is organised taking into account a series of questions
that have their origin in two major theoretical creations: scenography as architectonic
representation and space and objects as an extension of the human body.
Starting from the theoretical coordinates, whose conceptual development and fit are given
support and expression in the exhibition catalogue, via images, photographs, drawings and
concepts taken from various shows, João Mendes Ribeiro seeks to illustrate those initially
presented premises.
In an exhibition space where the materials are kept and transported in table-suitcases –
objects that also serve as content support, part of the scenographic project of the exhibition –
it is possible to trace a path via scenography and performances that represent different
moments of an open scene.
The way the objects are arranged permits a multi-layered perspective, be it a conceptual
explanation of an architectural approach to the stage, be it an illustration of the way the
scenographer worked the stage at different moments.
Also represented is an apparatus, again modular and transformable, which was created for
the exhibition Reversed Landscapes from the Ordem dos Arquitectos at the XXI World
Architecture Congress (Berlin, 2002). This apparatus is a modular structure in wood that can
be dismantled and creates a small auditorium in the shape of an amphitheatre with a video
screen.
As part of the project, a film that consists of two moments will be shown: the first one shows
a selection of João Mendes Ribeiro’s scenographies between 1996 and 2007; the second
shows the film The Nap, a project that was especially commissioned by Instituto das Artes
and created by the choreographer and dancer Olga Roriz.
The opening of the Portuguese Pavilion will see the launch of the Architectures on Stage
book/catalogue, a project of Instituto das Artes, published by Almedina.
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ARCHITECTURES ON STAGE
“This concept is concerned with the identification of lines of common intervention and
methodologies found in formal and aesthetic solutions that favour the mixing of disciplines
and the defining of areas of contamination between the dramatic arts.
The conceptual thread that dictates the selection of the various projects seeks to mirror the
contemporary spirit of hybridisation and experimentalism, the issues of ephemerality and
transformation, as well as the combining of materials or knowledge that stems from different
disciplinary areas.
The intention is to exhibit the relational sense of scenic spaces within the context of a clear
availability of references that run through the diverse disciplinary fields and whose amplitude
spreads from the significant world of staging, of ritual, of the symbolic to the world of
virtually abstract values, like those of a certain rationalist functionalism.
In the different projects the exploration of the body and space occurs - relationships of scale,
gestuality and materiality - in the context of contemporary artistic and architectural practice,
reflecting the issues of perception and the processes of representation and communication.
Using an essential language, austere and stripped back, one that is not far from the practice
of minimal art and abstract expressionism, these interventions emphasise a certain
subjectivity, where the aspects of physical space, scale and materials are explored as
autonomous phenomena in their intrinsic artistic qualities.
Scenography is seen from the point of view of the experimentation of processes and
languages that are typical of architecture, particularly with regard to the modelling of spaces
from themes such as scale, compositional or constructive aspects or the use of geometric or
modular structures.
The human and inhabitational aspects of spaces, a central theme in architecture, are also
decisive in the definition of those scenographic projects selected. That characteristic is
transmitted in the close relationship of the scenic object with the body or the characteristics
of those who make use of it. Its presence acts as a catalyst upon the scenarios, specifically
designed for it and its movements on stage.
It is in the contact with the performers that the inhabitability of the scenographic space is
revealed and that these become recognisable objects, communicating signs.
The issue of flexibility is also crucial in the selection of projects and corresponds to the
experimentation with the metamorphosis of spaces and the manipulation of scenic objects to
configure different representations of the world or hypothetical experiences. The idea of
contrast or disruption is also exemplified in a number of interventions and is concerned with
the world of scenographic creation, demonstrating the transdisciplinary aspect of the project,
be it with particularities of the different scripts and choreographic intentions, be it with the
transpositions of certain aesthetic and conceptual premises of architecture.”
João Mendes Ribeiro
Artist file and images at http://www.iartes.pt/qp07/
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Alceu Bett - Ag. Espetaculum
Don´t Destroy the Marigolds, by Olga Roriz
Companhia Olga Roriz, CCB, Lisboa, 2002
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Patrícia Almeida
Table-suitcases, by João Mendes Ribeiro
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Patrícia Almeida/FBA.
Reversed Landscapes, by João Mendes Ribeiro
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Sketches of Architectures on Stage, by João Mendes Ribeiro
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Architectures on Stage Pavilion
Project drawings Architectures on Stage, Atelier João Mendes Ribeiro
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Rodrigo César
Rehearsal of The Nap, Companhia Olga Roriz, Lisboa, 2007
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The Nap
The Nap was created specifically for the Architectures on Stage project and reflects the
performers’ appropriation of João Mendes Ribeiro’s scenography. One could say that what
particularly distinguishes his work is clearly present in The Nap: hybridity of artistic language
and a certain idea of the contamination between artistic genre. The dancers appropriate the
objects and give them life through their own language, transforming them, adapting them,
recreating them, making them protagonists in themselves.
In The Nap, the table-suitcases occupy the scenographic space, appealing to a relationship
with the performer that is also based on the possibility of transformation. Created by João
Mendes Ribeiro for the show Angels, Archangels, Seraphs, Cherubs......and Powers (1998),
they are memory-objects transported by the choreographer from her childhood, recalling the
time when they would have family picnics, and that almost magical moment when the
suitcase would turn into a table.
In the film, the smartly dressed dancers in green fields transport the suitcases, looking for a
pleasant place for a banquet. Having found the place, the tables are set in a magical step –
plates, cutlery and glasses take on movements that deceive the eye. Everything points to the
idea of gluttony but the dancers have animal heads and, because of them, they cannot eat.
The idea of possibility/impossibility thus becomes more consistent, gaining from the contrast
between the multiplication of possibilities, with regard to the table-suitcase object and the
sensation of the impossibility in relation to the dancers. Although the animal heads give them
anonymity and a certain degree of primordial freedom, they are well behaved at the table. On
one hand, one could say that there is that contention, on the other, one can foresee their
aggressiveness, caused by the impossibility of satiation.
The dancers whip off the tablecloths and go looking for another place, a shady spot to take a
nap. Lying down on top of the tablecloths they sleep. A servant (Olga Roriz) moves between
the trees balancing a stack of plates. Carefully, she moves away, leaving them in the silence
of their nap.
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Rodrigo César
The Nap, by Olga Roriz
Companhia Olga Roriz, Lisboa, 2007
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“Five travellers seeking a perfect place, paradise…
The place where time becomes the feast for mythological gods.
Cases and more cases are transformed into long tables.
Tables and more tables… Set. Bursting.
The food spread to the four corners of the tablecloth. Spilt wine.
The gluttony of knife and fork, of open mouths and dirty hands.
Plates that fly and hang in the air like birds.
Everything inside out, like time itself. Everything halted. Broken until silence.
That intimacy of an Olympus lost in the deep sleep of our imagination.”
Olga Roriz
Rodrigo César
The Nap, by Olga Roriz
Companhia Olga Roriz, Lisboa, 2007
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CATALOGUE
The exhibition Architectures on Stage has a bilingual catalogue in Portuguese and English,
produced by Instituto das Artes and published by Almedina. This catalogue visually
documents the scenography of João Mendes Ribeiro, with critical texts that contextualise the
exhibition.
Apart from João Mendes Ribeiro’s own essay on his scenographic career, there are texts
written by Ricardo Pais, Daniel Tércio, Miguel-Pedro Quadrio and Antoní Ramón Graels, as
well as a contribution by Olga Roriz about her film The Nap that was specially created for the
exhibition.
ITINERARY
After its stay at the Industrial Palace in Prague (June 14th to June 24th) and in line with
strategy of national and international circulation of exhibitions that officially represent
Portugal, Architectures on Stage moves to Barcelona, where it will be presented at the
Fomento de Artes Decorativas – FAD (July 12th to August 8th) as part of the programme for
the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. From October 3rd to
November 18th it will be presented at the Tomie Ohtake Institute, in São Paulo. Its
presentation in Lisbon and Porto is scheduled for 2008.
QP07 www.pq.cz
FAD www.fadweb.org
Instituto Tomie Ohtake www.institutotomieohtake.org.br
To download the high resolution images contained in this press pack and the promotional spots, go to the Instituto
das Artes site and click on the respective image: http://www.iartes.pt/qp07
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CONTACTS
Instituto das Artes / Ministério da Cultura
Rua Garrett 80, 3º
1200-204 Lisboa
Portugal
T. +351213219700
F. +351213219723
[email protected]
www.iartes.pt/qp07
Project Coordinator
Alexandra Pinho
T. +351964934485
T. +4916096059693
Curator/Author
João Mendes Ribeiro
T. +351962498295
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Architectures on Stage
Official Portuguese Representation in the Prague Quadrennial 2007
Curator
João Mendes Ribeiro
Project by
João Mendes Ribeiro, with Catarina Fortuna, Pedro Grandão
Coordination
Adelaide Ginga, Alexandra Pinho
Production Manager
Alexandra Pinho
Production
Domingos Valido, Manuel Henriques, Nuno Carvalho, Nuno Moura
Communication
Platz
Exhibition Design and Catalogue
FBA.
Graphic Design
Mola Ativism
Website and Spot
Bombazine
Translation to English
Daniel Boyce
Organization and Production
Instituto das Artes / Ministério da Cultura, Portugal
Acknowledgments
Afonso Cardoso, António Campos de Almeida, António Pires, Bernardo Futscher Pereira, Beth
Gali, Cláudia Grazina, Companhia Nacional de Bailado, Companhia Olga Roriz, Daniela
Pařízková, Diana Vidal, Fernando Santos, Helena Cardoso, Helena Tanqueiro, Katérina
Stepánková, Luís B. Costa, João Tuna, Josué Maia, Manuel Vitória, Mário Feliciano, Ordem dos
Arquitectos, Paulo Fonseca, Ricardo Ohtake, Rodrigo César, Rui Boavista Marques, Rui Morais,
Rui Simões, Sónia Bom, Teatro Nacional S. João, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Vitoria Arruda
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