Library of Performing Rights

The Library of Performing Rights is an ongoing collaboration between LADA, Lois Weaver, Elena Marchevska and the Study Room In Exile. Established as a unique collection of resources relating to the intersections of performance and Human rights, the Library of Performing Rights was reactivated in 2017  as a concept or approach to research and practice, rather than a distinct collection. It is available as a place of action, a place of knowledge exchange, a repository of experience, and a context that others can use to support and advance their own work both at LADA and elsewhere.

Developments of the Library of Performing Rights include:

• the integration of LPR titles into LADA’s wider Study Room holdings, and the addition of existing Study Room holdings that engage with issues of ‘rights’ into the concept of the LPR. All related titles are now catalogued and branded as Library of Performing Rights resources
• a guide through LPR titles in relation to their relevance to the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• the creation of LPR Touring Boxes as temporary installations for festivals, organisations, artists and other public events
• an annual LPR-themed DIY project
• annual LPR Open Days in LADA’s Study Room and the Study Room In Exile: opportunities for debate, knowledge exchange, and the research and discussion of new materials
• an annual commission inviting artists to respond to the LPR

Background and context

The Library of Performing Rights (LPR) was originally created in 2006 (by Lois Weaver of Queen Mary University London in collaboration with LADA) for Performance Studies international (PSi)12: Performing Rights, as a unique resource containing publications, videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs, brochures, digital and web-based initiatives that examined the intersection between performance and human rights. Materials were submitted by artists, activists and academics from around the world.

Since PSi12, LPR has been housed in LADA’s Study Room as a distinct collection of materials, has been presented in Vienna and Glasgow as part of LADA’s Performing Rights programmes, and has been installed in Rio De Janeiro and Montreal in curatorial initiatives led by Andrew Mitchelson and Lois Weaver.

From August 2017, the LPR has been reimagined and reactivated by LADA, Lois Weaver, Elena Marchevska and the Study Room In Exile, as a concept or approach to research and practice, rather than a distinct collection. It is available as a place of action, a place of knowledge exchange, a repository of experience, and a context that others can use to support and advance their own work both at LADA and elsewhere.