About

Collaborative work in general and the sharing, copying and further use of modules developed by other members of a network in particular have become practices in communities in the arts, design and academia in recent years. “Open Source” strategies as cultivated in software development have served as a model for these efforts. At the same time, issues such as goals and motivations among practitioners, as well as questions concerning authorship, patents and trade secrets concerning know how and processes have arisen.

“The Dynamic Archive” sets out to discuss, probe, and develop these questions with a focus on theatre and performance, media arts and design, as well as to software design. 

Artists and designers provide the Dynamic Archive with their working methods and processes ( as notations, software, technical specifications, patterns, scores, tools, rules, texts, principles ), in order to make these resources available to others for use and further development. In the context of the Dynamic Archive these working methods and processes are referred to *components*.

The main part of this research project is the iterative implementation of the digital archive itself as the web application “thedynamicarchive.net” and the continuous addition of components to the archive. The archive allows for the copying and modification of already archived components. In the context of the Dynamic Archive these modified copies are referred to as *versions*. The new *version* of a component preserves the connection to its source component.

In this respect, the curated platform is as much a tool as it is a collection. The components of the archive are by no means static and might well permanently undergo changes and developments. Components are only categorized in a vague fashion, but can be searched by these categorized as well as through full-text searches. The archive is open to the public thus such inquiries can be initiated by anyone visiting the archive.

In order to contribute a component to the archive a carefully administered process must first be initiated. After a first contact, an interview or conversation with the artist or designer is conducted by a member of the archive team. This step serves as a way to discuss and reflect upon the contributor’s working methods and processes and how they can be represented as a component in the archive. Based on this interview a component is created by the artist or designer and/or a member of the archive team and can be refined in the platform until it is ready to be published. In the context of the Dynamic Archive a component is split into *nodes*. A *node* can be of a variety of media types like text, image, film, sound etcetera.

Apart from the web application and the components this research project is also concerned with the caveats, risks, and dangers that can potentially arise from such a process. What sorts of commercial structures must and should be anticipated that unfold beyond copyrights, licensing and patent disputes while tending to privilege growth and profits? How can the Dynamic Archive avoid repeating and reinforcing such structures and tendencies? A critical perspective on archives and collection such as the Dynamic Archive is needed and the research project aims to develop such a perspective in parallel with the archive itself.

Next to the web application hosted on the platform “thedynamicarchive.net” a series of other activities in regards to the research project can be found there such as discussion processes, conferences and workshops, exhibitions and performances, publications and the artist in residency programs. These formats aim to contribute to the development of an open and collaborative platform with regional and international dimensions to examine and experiment with the structures of the Dynamic Archive.

The archive also can serve to discover processes of accommodation and it advances critical positions. Here transcultural questions and issues come into play in significant ways. They are being expressed in the actual work of translations that show “situated knowledge” in use at the archive as it operates.

The Dynamic Archive in KUNSTFORUM

The Dynamic Archive Instagram

The Dynamic Archive in Art&Education