Depth‐charge in the archive: the documentation of performance revisited in the digital age

Abstract

The debate surrounding the documentation of performance is principally concerned with the ephemerality of the live event, set against the stasis and 'death' that the archive is conventionally believed to represent. The advent of digital technology in live performance has complexified this still further, by altering the architecture, space and dimensionality of the live event. Time-delay, live motion capture, feedback loops, dancing avatars and images projected in and onto the space all conspire to generate a liminal zone between the virtual and the real, fracturing audience perception and subverting still further the already-contested notion that performance can in any way be repeatable or 'captured'. Telematics and immersive/interactive environments, such as virtual reality, also complicate what the performance is and where it resides: here it becomes a personal exchange, in an intimate space generated afresh between the artist/performer and each spectator/participant. As our experience of performance becomes ever more personalised it reinforces the notion that multiple truths must emerge from any performance event and validates individual memory as a site for 'documents' to reside. Digital technology here comes to the fore as a documentation medium as well as a performance device: it allows us to upload, disseminate and share personal perspectives on a performance event and to challenge the limiting linearity of bound text and film, navigating dynamically between documentobjects and playfully (re)performing the documentation each time we visit it.

Entertainment as an archival source for historical accounting research

“…This changed the definition of an archive from a passive storehouse of information to an active site in which social power is negotiated and constructed (Schwartz, 2008; Schwartz and Cook, 2002). It also created a space for archives to take other forms, which has opened the way for performance art to be viewed as an archive (Allen, 2010; Jones et al, 2009; Stoian, 2002). Changing the understanding of what constitutes an archive changes the notion of memory, moving it from being something represented by a collection to something made and re-made (Schwartz and Cook, 2002).…”

“…Within accounting, circuses have not been a popular theme for historical accounting research although Cummings and St Leon (2009) demonstrated that their study can enhance understanding of historical approaches to financial management. Outside accounting, circuses have been of research interest in historical fields of inquiry that include social history (Arrighi, 2012; Neirick, 2012), performance history (Carmeli, 2003; Fusco, 1994), entertainment history (Stoddart, 2000), management history (Beadle and Könyöt, 2006), economic history (Allen, 2010; Renoff, 2008), political history (Holmgren, 2007), military logistical history (May, 1932) and visual history (Wilson, 2017). Since these disciplines overlap, or are closely aligned with, accounting history, there may be currently unexplored opportunities to consider circuses in the context of other historical accounting research topics.…”

The importance of electronic storage of documentation in agricultural enterprises in the Republic of Serbia

“…Corporate management in the economy, and especially management in agricultural enterprises, requires adequate storage and archiving of documentation [1][2][3][4][5] in enterprises. Archiving documentation in companies is one of the most important tasks that must be done in order to reduce the general risk of doing business in companies [6][7][8][9][10].…”

The importance of determining the relationship between poorly recorded and archived contracts, decisions, opinions and instructions in relation to the introduced form of archiving in agricultural enterprises in Republic of Serbia

“…One of the important forms of improving corporate governance in Focus is following the problems of documentation movement in companies, but within that monitoring of documentation movement it is necessary to point out that continuous care is taken to reduce real risks for decision makers in companies [1][2][3][4][5].…”