The Prague Quadrennial strives to present performance design as an art form concerned with creation of active performance environments, that are far beyond merely decorative or beautiful, but emotionally charged, where design can become a quest, a question, an argument, a threat, a resolution, an agent of change, or a provocation. Performance design is a collaborative field where designers mix, fuse and blur the lines between multiple artistic disciplines to search for new approaches and new visions.

The Prague Quadrennial organizes an expansive program of international projects and activities between the main quadrennial events – performances, exhibitions, symposia, workshops, residencies, and educational initiatives serve as an international platform for exploring the practice, theory and education of contemporary performance design in the most encompassing terms.

The Prague Quadrennial last took place June 18 – 28, 2015 in over 60 indoor and outdoor locations in the center of Prague. It included over 600 live events and over 150 expositions during the course of 11 days, presenting performance design (including spatial/set, costume, sound, lighting, and projection design work) from 78 countries. Prague Quadrennial had 180,000 visits, including 6000 accredited professionals and over 1300 students from all over the world actively taking part.

The Prague Quadrennial was recognized after the 2015 edition by the EFFE Awards as one of the most trend-setting European festivals.

The Prague Quadrennial is organized and funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and realized by Arts and Theatre Institute.