The highly prestigious Golden Triga awarded for the installation Spectators In A Ghost City is a great honour for Cyprus and the country’s creators, for the curators of this year’s entry, and for the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, sparking joy and excitement. The Cypriot entry was curated on an initial concept by Marina Maleni, with Melita Couta as artistic researcher and installation designer, and with the collaboration of Harris Kafkarides. The Golden Triga, bestowed by an international jury of distinguished experts, is the most important award in the field of performing arts design.

A deeply moved Antigoni Papaphilippou, President of THOC’s Board of Directors, said, “This unique international award makes us proud and honours all Cyprus’s creators, its state theatre and those working passionately and with self-sacrifice in the arts. Warmest congratulations to everyone for this great achievement.”

According to the Jury of PQ23: “This elegant and many-layered exhibit demonstrates how scenography can interrogate and negotiate local themes of memory, absence and presence that resonate universally. It self-critically invites visitors to question their own position as viewers of real or reproduced sites of conflict and trauma. By looking at the past, present and possible futures of the site as seen through the narrow square openings of buildings, the exhibit provokes feelings of anguish while suggesting the RARE potential for hope.”

The Golden Triga is awarded at the Prague Quadrennial, to one installation from among the national exhibits. Over the years, the award has travelled to Europe, Asia, and North and South America. This year’s festival welcomed almost a hundred creative and curatorial teams from 59 countries and regions to the two main exhibitions, hosting around 2,000 artists.

Curator-initial concept: Marina Maleni
Artistic Research-Design: Melita Couta
Collaborating Technical Advisor: Harris Kafkarides
Art and Technology collaborator for Audiovisual: Giorgos Lazoglou
Video Performance Artists: Pascal Caron and Melita Couta
Graphic and website design: Philippos Vassiliades
Technical support in Prague: Doros Tsolakis
Technical support in Nicosia: THOC technical services

The award was received in Prague on behalf of THOC by the President of the Cyprus Centre of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians, Mariza Bargilly.

The creative team was accompanied in Prague by the President of THOC’s Board of Directors, Antigoni Papaphilippou, and board member Theodora Savva. During the delegation’s stay in Prague, there was a presentation of the methodology and work underlying the creation of the installation, attended by the Cypriot Ambassador to the Czech Republic, George Yiangou, as well as the Armenian Ambassador. The Cypriot exhibit was also visited by the Ambassadors of Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.