Archive for Performance Art? On the archiving, transmission and mediation of an art form in motion

Abstract This PhD project revolves around the question of whether traditional collecting strategies are appropriate and sufficient for performance art or whether an art form for which the presence of bodies in space represents an important aspect does require artistic-performative methods of transmission. The starting point for this research is the performance holdings of Kunstraum Niederoesterreich. Building on research results from performance studies, art studies, media theory and archival studies, the transmission of artistic-performative practices will be at the centre of the investigations. The aim is not only to make the holdings accessible, but also to examine them in the sense of researching and developing new methods of archiving. The emphasis of this research is on artistic-performative practices as strategies of transmission. This art form works with the physical presence in the moment of the performance. Shouldn't this art form as well be explored and handed down by the means of artistic-performative practices? The aim is to create a concept for a performance archive on the basis of the Kunstraum holdings, which transfers its materials into the space as well as into living interaction and thus enforces accessibility to this art form.At first glance, archiving an ephemeral art practice represents a certain contradiction in terms. Performance artists and performance researchers operate within this tension between subversion of the prevailing conditions in the art field and the transmission of a young art form that is particularly relevant, especially from a feminist perspective. This can be traced with the help of theories on the notion of performance (e.g., Phelan, Auslander, Fischer-Lichte, Taylor, Schneider). Furthermore, the potentials of artistic-performative practices as forms of transmission will be included in the conception of a performance archive by means of examples from the authors' own artistic-curatorial practice. For the archiving of performances, the integration of an artistic approach means that the archive, in addition to its function as a repository of knowledge, is also recognised as a site of collective artistic knowledge production. Accordingly, archive materials in its interplay with artistic-performative actions, can represent a potential to decisively deepen the understanding of and knowledge about past events.Marlies Surtmann lives and works in Vienna, where she is active in the fields of art, science and artistic research. In her work, she focuses on investigating the relationship between body, space, society and art, as well as questions of participation, exchange and collaboration as central elements of performative art. The project was funded by the GFF Science Call Dissertations in cooperation with the Centre for Museal Collection Management at Danube University Krems. Together with Olivia Jaques, she founded the performance platform Performatorium and organises artistic-performative encounters.