Archives in Practice by O. Jaques, C. Ruth, M. Surtmann

Who or what carries, develops and transmits knowledge when it comes to performance and socially engaged art? An institution? An archive? A body? A collective body? A teacher? A website? A hard-drive? A box? ARCHIVES IN PRACTICE investigates methods for how to better include intersubjective and embodied knowledge inside archival practice. The research is especially devoted to socially engaged performance art whose participatory and often delicate practice is difficult to document. The methods of performative archiving will be based on two case studies in collaboration with APL - Angewandte Performance Laboratory and Raw Matters. Rather than a well organised storage we imagine the archive as a vibrant memory field. A place where concentrates (Konzentrate) of practice can be planted and where we activate and also continue the traces and artistic thinking of our peers. The idea of a concentrate has its roots in the three main researchers transdisciplinary and continuously developing performative archival practices; such as the Scenario Method – whereby past events can be artistically examined and recreated (Performatorium) and Living Documents – where performing in a loop is explored as a live documentation format (Ruth & Grünbühel). Through a concluding dialogue with archivists the methods of concentrates as a performative archiving practice will be evaluated and its compatibility with traditional archival logics will be tested. The long term aim is to support horizontal and sustainable transmission of knowledge developed within performative practice and explore how institutions and art educations, such as the University of Applied Arts can better include social and embodied knowledge in its ongoing programming and curriculum.

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