Barbara Schaffer Bacon

Check out the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library – a digital video library of performance practices in the Americas. Created in partnership with NYU Libraries and with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this growing repository guarantees historical preservation and free online access to more than 600 hours of video that explores embodied practice—performance—as a vehicle for the creation of new meaning and the transmission of cultural values, memory and identity.

The digital library is one of many projects of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics which is building out a powerful, interactive, multi-lingual digital archive. The Institute promotes “vibrant interactions and collaborations at the level of scholarship, art practice and pedagogy among practitioners interested in the relationship between performance and politics in the hemisphere.” It is a collaborative, multilingual and interdisciplinary network of institutions, artists, scholars, and activists throughout the Americas, and is working at the intersection of scholarship, artistic expression and politics based at NYU.

You will also find: Web Cuadernos — on-line curations of multimedia materials focused on particular topics or bodies of work relating to performance and politics in the Americas. They contain combinations of photos, videos, texts, hyperlinks, bibliographies, and audio recordings, each piece gathered to explore a specific topic. A great example is: Multiple Journeys: The Life and Work of Gómez-Peña.

Compiled by Rafael Abolafia, Frances Pollitt, Emma Tramposch and Ana Vélez,“Multiple Journeys” invokes text and historical photographs to chronicle the performance art practice of post-Mexican writer, artist and activist Guillermo Gómez-Peña. By tracing his family life as well as his past 30 years in performance, visual and literary forms, the artist presents his work in context to the larger evolution of the field as well as to the main political and social events of the times.

The Hemispheric Institute combines and connects its archival work with active labs, convenings and networks to create vibrant platforms for exchange and critical discourse.

Back to the Future: Forward-Thinking Documentation & Archiving is generously sponsored by Drexel University Online.