Contemporary methods and technologies in the documentation of performing arts

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its foundation, the Theatre Institute Bratislava organizes an international symposium: 'Contemporary methods and technologies in the documentation of performing arts'. The symposium will be held on 28 and 29 November 2011 in Bratislava.

The documentation of theatre performance is the only available way of preserving the specific form of this art, which happens unrepeatably in time and space. It helps to create a theatre culture, support theatre context and build cultural conscience. Theatre documentation aims in the first place at theatre experts – critics, theoreticians, aestheticians, culturologists, art historians and students of art schools. In addition it communicates with the wider public.

In the last years we observed a boom in new technologies that influences the field of documentation as well. Therefore, the Theatre Institute decided to prepare a scientific conference that could thematically analyse the present, and discuss the possible trends in the field of theatre documentation.

The symposium will discuss the following topics:

• Traditional and modern ways of documenting the theatre performance – most of the collected material is in the classical paper form (but also 2D and 3D format), a significant part of the materials are old documents and prints, which need traditional and modern forms of attendance, preserving and presenting
• Storage of 2D and 3D objects - stage and costume designs, posters, projects of theatre buildings and related materials, which need special forms and technologies in preserving, conservation and presenting
• Advantages and disadvantages of electronic recording of theatre performances – from the authentic descriptiveness of specific theatre action to the potential presenting of theatre performance to the audience in a more attractive form
• Ways of presenting the documentation archives - the archives contain a lot of attractive artefact, which have only restricted value for the public without context, therefore finding modern forms of presentation is a crucial aspect of building and cultivating the cultural conscience
• The place of digitalisation in the process of documentation – finding and defining boundaries between analogue and electronic documentation technologies
• Interactive information networks and their availability – this offers today new possibilities at using documents during the virtual theatre performance. Anyhow, it is a question how effective these interactive information networks are for expert theatre documentation.

The conference will take place on 28 – 29 November 2011 in Bratislava. Bart Magnus (VTi) will give a presentation about the documentation at VTi and about Travelogue.

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