Several activities structured the project: substantial research in archives and libraries, which allowed for the examination of crucial sources for the history of performance art and its documentation; presentation and discussion of its ongoing results at prestigious international conferences, symposia, and research groups; participation in the activities of the International Research Center “Interweaving Performance Cultures”; and steady scientific exchange with the members of the Institute of Theatre Studies.
Key international scholars and artists participated in the two symposia organised within the project’s framework: “Re-Constructing Performance Art” (Freie Universität Berlin, 30.11.–1.12.2018) and “Performance Art: Who Cares?” (Migros Museum, Zurich, 22.03.2019). In collaboration with the Migros Museum, moreover, a series of outreach activities targeting different audiences were carried out. Interviews with artists, recorded in the course of the research, are available on the project’s weblog.
Pursuing this path, the project achieved:
• the elaboration of an innovative historiographical and methodological approach to performance art history that accounts for the entanglements of discursive and non-discursive dynamics in the disciplinary formation of this genre;
• the production, through the approach mentioned above, of new knowledge contributing to the reconstruction of the histories of performance-based art in the twentieth century;
• the collection, through artists’ interviews, of invaluable sources to reconstruct strategies of documenting and archiving performance art;
• the objective of designing and sharing replicable workshop-formats for younger generations.
The dissemination means of the project’s result were:
2 symposia organised, 8 papers at international conferences, 2 workshops and 6 lectures and presentations in colloquia and seminars in different countries;
3 articles published or submitted for publication in double-blind peer-reviewed journals and books;
a multimedia weblog containing video reports, artists’ interviews, brochures, and other related materials;
1 monograph and 1 edited volume are currently in development.
