NOW/NEXT: performance space at the crossroads

While we speak of going to the theatre, the etymological roots of venue lie in the French word venir as ‘to come'. So, what are we coming to and what is theatre itself becoming as both art form (action-in-space) and built form (space-in-action)? This article acknowledges a contemporary impulse to defy the limits of a globally ubiquitous Western-centric stage and auditorium; exploring instead the varying locales of cityscapes, landscapes and mindscapes, which lead to new spatial forms and relationships that integrate fabricated performance worlds with the material sites of the real. Such research was played out as performance practice in the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design & Space (PQ) via the architecture section titled NOW/NEXT: Performance Space at the Crossroads. In my role as PQ's Commissioner of Architecture, I conceived, curated and designed NOW/NEXT as a 10-day exhibition and durational event; inviting spatial artists, architects and visitors to present and witness varying scenarios that expand ‘theatre architecture' into the more extensive realm of ‘performance space’ - as performative spacing - and to grasp a greater potential by engaging more broadly, radically and experimentally with what the forms and functions of theatre could be as cultural civic site.