Preserving the ephemeral: some fundamentals for creating collections of performing arts in Brazil

Abstract

Creating collections of performing arts documentation involves specific actions and methodologies that take into account the fact that these arts are ephemeral by nature, making it impossible to record and preserve a complete manifestation or production, or sometimes even its essential core. In fact, we can only preserve vestiges like publications and objects created for and from the performance. Such records allow an approach to the performance, but they cannot provide a total reconstitution of it. The performing arts are related to space and time, and above all, to interaction with the public, and therefore cannot be reconstructed or repeated. These characteristics of the performing arts must be taken as the starting point for any action aimed at forming performing arts documentation collections. Because of the complexity of the task, and the restrictions inherent in it, this article proposes that we think hard about the role of our collecting organizations (museums, archives, documentation centers and libraries) and about their need to develop policies and actions aimed at gathering, documenting and selecting information, and about its processing and analysis, organization and dissemination. Also emphasized is the fact that isolated documents sometimes seem to offer insignificant data, but once integrated with others can make it possible to get closer to performances from the past and create new meanings for them.