Performing the Archive

The study ‘Performing the Archives’ documents the results of one of the first research projects to examine the archiving of the Free Theatre movement. For over 50 years the free performing arts have constituted a ‘second pillar’ of the German theatre world. The records of artistic practice, cultural policy and organisational and administrative practice certainly survive in large part, but are widely dispersed, most being in the place of their origin, have not been properly archived and indexed, and are threatened with deterioration. This study lays the conceptual foundations for securing and making available a relevant part of our cultural heritage. Just as the Free Theatre movement grew out of the critical self-empowerment and innovative self-organisation of its artists, organisers in the fields of cultural policy and academia have come together and, with the support of the German Federal Government and of some German states, initiated a research process to create an Free Theatre archive. Its comprehensive survey is presented here. The study, with its insights, expertise and recommendations for action, describes from artistic and academic as well as technological and legal perspectives the structural contours of an archive which, as a decentralised and digital knowledge platform, provides the basis required both for ‘Performing the archive’ in practice and for cultural-political discourses of the future development of the theatrical landscape.