PQ&A – USITT at the 2019 PQ

PQ&A is USITT’s companion podcast to the US Exhibition at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial. It is hosted by Ian Garrett, lead curator for the exhibition. On PQ&A Ian talks with the featured designers in the US Exhibition about their background, inspirations, and what gives them their unique world view.

In the exhibition for 2019 we wanted to recognize that the United States is a nation of immigrants, and celebrate our diversity… most people in the US can identify immigrant roots. Those immigrant roots, together with the people that can trace their ancestry back to more than 500 Native American tribes, we refer to as this the cultural DNA of the artists who create the work in our communities.

This rich cultural diversity and wisdom contributes to the creativity, ingenuity, and knowledge that we find inspirational. So, iIn addition to the selected work, the exhibition incorporates the oral history of the designers, positioning them in relationship to the field and their own work.

For this podcast, I talk to the designers about their 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 scenography.