| Description |
Documenting Live is a unique publication and dvd resource reflecting the work of key UK based artists working in the 1990s and 2000s, and placing Live Art practices that are informed by questions of cultural identity within critical and historical frameworks.
Documenting Live has been developed by the Live Art Development Agency, curator David A Bailey and Project Director Rajni Shah in response to the challenges of documenting Live Art, and particularly the influential work of artists from culturally diverse backgrounds in the UK.
Recognised as a practice that operates within, in between, across, and at the edges of visual art, theatre, dance, poetry, digital media and the moving image, Live Art is often an interdisciplinary, itinerant and ephemeral area of contemporary arts practice. Inevitably there are many challenges in the documentation, archiving and contextualistion of such work, and these challenges can lead to the exclusion of significant artists and approaches from wider cultural discourses and art histories. This is particularly the case for artists concerned with questions of identity, difference and the complexities of 'cultural diversity', whose experiences and practices are often sidelined within UK's cultural histories.
Documenting Live sets out to address these challenges through the creation of an archival and critical document that maps a history; marks a territory; and looks to the future. It has been developed as a resource for artists, scholars, students, curators, historians, policy makers, and anyone interested in the cultural landscape of the UK.
Barby Asante, Ansuman Biswas, Malika Booker, Sonia Boyce, George Chakravarthi, Robin Deacon, Yara El-Sherbini, Harminder Singh Judge, Keith Khan, David Medalla, Harold Offeh, Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, and Ali Zaidi collaborated on this mapping project through the creation of biographical postcards and video commentaries, the selection of illustrative documentation of their work, and participation in round table discussions prompted by David A Bailey's essay Documenting Live: Performance-Based Art and the Racialised Body.
In their illuminating and provocative contributions, the participating artists reflect on the people, movements and ideas of the 20th century moment that have influenced, and continue to influence, their own performative practices; consider the formal, conceptual and cultural issues informing their work in the 21st century; and offer invaluable insights into the different histories and experiences of black artists in the UK, and the evolving and shifting nature of Live Art itself.
Documenting Live contains David A Bailey's mapping essay Performance-Based Art and the Racialised Body; the artists' postcards; and a dvd featuring the artists' commentaries, excerpts from key works, and documentation of the round table discussions. |