Archiving Practices of Performances + Pina Bausch Digital Archive Installation

The second Conversation over Coffee of the Attakkalari India Biennial's Talking Performance Conference focuses on Archiving Practices of Performances.

The conference reflects on archiving practices of performances from two very different strands. The sessions are:

• Pina Bausch Digital Archive presented by Ismaël Dia & Julian Klotz
• Archiving traditional Kootiyattam performances by Usha Nangiar

The first session will explore the thoughts, concepts and ideas behind the Pina Bausch Digital Archive and the strategies employed to achieve those objectives. This 45 - 60-minute presentation on the Pina Bausch Digital Archive by Ismaël Dia, Director of the Archive and his colleague Julian Klotz, explores the strategies and processes they adopted as well as the artistic concerns and issues that guided them. The presentation will articulate the reasons behind deciding on the need for an archive and how the team went about it.

© Ismaël Dia

Ismaël Dia started working for the Pina Bausch Foundation in 2011. He has been director of the seminal Pina Bausch Archive since 2017.
 

© Julian Klotz

Julian Klotz has been fascinated by making information accessible since 2008. He works between the disciplines of design, information science and software development. He has been developer (front and backend) for the Pina Bausch Archives since 2019.

Following this will be a presentation of an archival project undertaken by an independent artist from India. Usha Nangiar, an eminent performer from the Kootiyattam and Nangiarkoothu traditions (ancient Sanskrit theatre traditions, which have been given the Intangible World Heritage title by the UNESCO) will present her thoughts and ideas behind her attempt to revive some of the performances in these traditions and document them. As she is the only disciple of the legendary Madhava Chakyar, who had the fortune of learning the artform to the fullest extent from him directly, her style of performance and her research is quite unique. Usha will explain her approach to research, practice, performance and archiving with footage from the documentation.

The sessions will be chaired by eminent Indian archivist Venkat Srinivasan, who works at the National Centre for Biological Science and has helped many organisations in India to set up archives. He will be in conversation with Ismaël Dia on the technical aspects and approaches of archiving.

Prof. Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (Dance Scholar) and Jayachandran Palazhy (Choreographer and Attakkalari’s Artistic Director) will be discussants.

Each session will be followed by a Q&A.

Register to participate in the conference at Rangmandala at Attakkalari (20 seats only) or online. 

Pina Bausch Digital Archive Installation at Attakkalari
Participants who are able to physically participate in the conference will also have the opportunity to try their hand and explore the extensive Pina Bausch Digital Archive installation at Attakkalari. The  installation will be accessible for viewing and exploring on Sunday February 20, 2022 from 11.00 a.m. onwards.