The Theatre Institute invites students and graduates (up to five years after completing their studies) of stage design and costume design departments to take part in a competition for an original concept of the Polish section of the Student Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial 2027. Applications should be submitted by 23 April 2026 via the application form.
The artistic theme of the upcoming edition of the Prague Quadrennial is “Absences and Silences as spaces of potential for new scenographic futures”.
Here is a fragment of the curatorial statement: “2027 will mark sixty years since the founding of the Prague Quadrennial – sixty years of continuous existence despite various turbulent events and multiple crises across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Over these sixty years, PQ has become a home for an ever-growing community of artists, theorists, and students dedicated to scenography and performance space. (…)
Looking back at both past and recent transformations of PQ, it is also important to consider what we may have missed. What have we overlooked? Where are the proverbial blind spots? What has been absent, unseen, or unheard? These questions matter not only because they lead us into the past, but also because they prepare the ground for the future.
And these very questions are the inspiration for the theme of PQ 2027. As a form of collective artistic reflection, we want to direct our curatorial focus toward absences and silences in scenography and performance design – historically, aesthetically, and ultimately, as a vision for the future.”
The winning design will be produced for the PQ 2027, and it will take part in the Student Exhibition competition. For detailed information about the open call, please see the Terms and Conditions.
The winner of the open call will be selected by 30 May 2026.
You can read more about the exhibition concept on the Prague Quadrennial 2027 website.
The Theatre Institute is the producer of the main Polish exhibitions at the Prague Quadrennial. All necessary information about the open call for the concept design of the Polish section of the Student Exhibition is provided in the Terms and Conditions and Organizational Manual I.
Important dates
by 23 April 2026 | application deadline
by 30 May 2026 | publication of results
Jury of the competition
Simone De Iacobis
Anna Galas-Kosil
Paweł Janicki
Małgorzata Kuciewicz
Natalia Kitamikado
Ksenia Makała
Agata Skwarczyńska
More information on www.praskiequadriennale.pl / www.instytut-teatralny.pl.
