Overview

With support from Arts Council England, the Live Art Archives (LAA) were formally established first at Nottingham Trent University in the mid-1990s by Professor Barry Smith, before being transferred to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection in 2006. This collection of administrative papers relates to the development of the Live Art Archives at Nottingham Trent and the associated activities of its Performing Arts Digital Research Unit (DRU) during this period.  The core collections which formed the Live Art Archives at Nottingham were the Record Of Live Art Practice (RLAP), the National Review of Live Art video archive (NRLA), Performance Magazine (PM) and the Digital Performance Archive (DPA). The DRU also collaborated with artists, notably working with the artist Stelarc on a number of projects, organised research lectures from visiting scholars and participated in international conferences. Documentation in the collection also reflects these activities.

What the collection holds

The collection is made up of 33 boxes containing Arts Council surveys and reports, correspondence and funding bids connected to the establishment of the Live Art Archives at Nottingham Trent University and the digital preservation of the National Review of Live Art video archive, publicity and marketing materials promoting the Live Art Archives at Nottingham Trent University and other initiatives led by the Performing Arts Digital Research Unit, papers relating to the development and documentation of artistic projects with Stelarc, as well research lectures by Yacov Sharir and Kenneth Rinaldo. The collection also contains printouts of pages from 1990s websites relating to performance and live art practices, documentation relating to Leicester’s New Works Festivals 1996 – 1999, and a detailed report on copyright issues for live art websites from 1999. 

Further Information

The collection is not yet fully catalogued, but a 'box list' is available. Please contact us for further information.