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The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2023 welcomed nearly one hundred creative and curatorial teams from 59 countries and regions within the two main exhibitions; in total PQ 2023 hosted around 2,000 artists.

This was the third consecutive win for the Finnish Student Exhibition following a Gold Medal PQ 2015 for the Best Exposition in the Student Section and Best Student Exhibition Experience in PQ 2019. 

The award winners are Master's students in Costume Design (Aalto University, School of Art, Design and Architecture), and in Sound Design, Lighting Design and Design for the Performing Arts (Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki). 

Creative team members: Hugo Enkenberg, Lyydia Johansson, Ruusa Johansson, Aino Juutilainen, Mirei Kato, Meme Korhonen, Pauli Kotilainen, Aku Lahti, Alina Pajula, Hilla Ruuska, Mikko Salminen, Timo Tikka, Ville Tolvanen, Joakim Udd, Outi Vedenpää and Aino Väisänen.

Curatorial team: Sofia Pantouvaki, Susanna Suurla (Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture), Kimmo Karjunen, Liisa Ikonen, Elina Lifländer, Tomi Humalisto, Jari Kauppinen, Tuomas Fränti and Jokke Heikkilä (Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki).

The theme of this year's exhibition was Festival of the RARE. The Finnish Student Exhibition studied the topic from the perspective of the Finnish nature experience and endangered peatland environments. In the exhibition, visitors stepped into the centre of this audio-visual and holistic work and shared a rare and unique swamp experience together with the rest of the festival audience. 

The  commentary on the awarded work: Utilising senses, costume and materiality this playful and charming exhibit invites participants to experience the physicality and sounds of walking through a Finnish swamp whilst asking us to consider the impact of humans on these precious and threatened ecosystems.

Description of the work:

Why do we keep getting stuck? Suo, Silent, Disco is a piece that combines traces of the rare, typical and controversial Finnish suo (swamp, bog or peatland) into a light-hearted physical experiment. Participants are invited to share the playful and audiovisual space of the sticky unknown.

Suo, Silent, Disco was created through different experiences and ideas of suo landscapes, which cover almost a third of Finland’s land area. Although the piece approaches the theme from a playful and heartfelt point of view, the cultural and political aspects of suo areas are controversial. Suos act as great carbon sinks, but for decades they have been severely threatened by drainage and peat extraction. These human actions create huge emissions and damage ecosystems. Knowing all this, why do we keep getting stuck?

Suo, Silent, Disco was co-organised by the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki and the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The work was sponsored by Studiotec Oy.

For more information:

Instagram: @pq23finland