DIY: 2018 – Documentation Action Research Collective: Transformance

Blurring the lines between live performance and documentation

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Mon 18 June
This DIY is supported by Dance4

Project summary

Transformance is a process of artistic exchange and creation, in which live performance, documentation and transformation meet. In this three day workshop we seek to blur the lines between live performance and documentation and to generate a hybridised live practice by creating and responding together. Through practical exercises and discussions, we will explore creative responses to live performance, and the ‘translational’ relationship between performance and its documents, which may lead to their mutual transformation in both form and content.

We are inviting artists who have a passion and interest in exploring what remains (and does not remain) of a performance, and in questioning the seeming contradictions between the ephemeral and the fixed. Together, we will examine modes of subverting conventional expectations of performance documentation. We aim to conceive of the documentary process as a creatively responsive tool, a performative artwork of its own.

How to apply

We are committed to equality of opportunity and diverse candidates are encouraged to apply. We welcome artists from a variety of disciplines who consider liveness and documentation important elements in their practice (including, but not limited to: dance, performance, sculpture, photography, painting, music, writing). An evident willingness to experiment and collaborate are key selection criteria.

Selection will be through a simple application form that asks applicants to outline their art practice and their interest in performance documentation. The intended participants are interdisciplinary artists with a passion and curiosity for performance documentation and the politics of the archive. 

Dates, times and location

Dates: 12-14 Oct 2018
Times: 10am-5pm each day, with a possible Saturday evening activity
Location: Nottingham (Dance4/iC4C is a fully-accessible building)

The artists

We are Documentation Action Research Collective (DARC); an interdisciplinary artist collective interested in exploring and interrogating the notion of documentation and the archive. We believe that the documentation of artists’ work is not just an act of preservation but a creative act in itself. We consider our work a process of collaboration, a dialogue, a responsibility and an art form of its own. We are Ernst Fischer, Tara Fatehi Irani, Holly Revell, Manuel Vason and Jemima Yong.

For questions about this DIY, please contact DARC.