In the two-year SNSF research project “archiv performativ”, Pascal Grau, Margarit von Büren and Irene Müller identified ways in which the opposing requirements of performance practice and archiving can be combined in the case of performance art.
Taking a qualitative approach, they described and classified artefacts from performances. Then the researchers examined their value in explaining performances.
From the point of view of the Media Archive it is clear that the process of documenting and archiving performance art and other works from the performing arts in a digital archive entails a double change of media. Because of the transitory nature of the work of art, the first transition takes place between the performance and its documenting. This may involve photography, video and audio recordings but also subsequent eye witness reports and artefacts left behind after the performance. Are these sources, records, interpretations? A second transition takes place when these documents are transferred into a database for the purpose of archiving. How are the different artefacts weighted? What overall picture do they create together and what is the relationship between that and the original work?
Working with the “archiv performativ” team, we managed to identify some possible ways of integrating works of performance art in the Media Archive. This applies mainly to the compilation of sets of different media types: in order to take account of the diverse nature of this material, users can save it in different presentation formats and highlight particularly important content. As a demonstration, Irene Müller has recorded five performances in the Media Archive as prototypes. Instructions on best practice are also available in a Help Wiki.