Resumo
This paper aims to contribute to current critical discussions on the nature and function of archives in the field of performing arts, focusing on the Italian context and its specific infrastructural challenges. The starting point is the persistent fragmentation of the Italian archival system, characterised by the lack of a centralised repository, poor interoperability among archival holdings, and limited accessibility. The intention is to explore how a dynamic, digital and participatory archival model might address these shortcomings, while responding to the inherent ephemerality of performance as an artistic and cultural practice.
The analysis unfolds along two interconnected lines. First, the paper will offer a comparative overview of significant international experiences — such as AusStage in Australia, SAPA in Switzerland, and Les Archives du Spectacle in France — to identify operational models and best practices for the mapping, digitization and dissemination of theatrical archives. Second, it will introduce the conceptual framework underlying the ongoing project ITArchives, developed within the extended PNRR CHANGES partnership and currently under construction.
The project represents one of the first structured attempts to build a digital platform designed to map, archive, and interactively present Italian theatrical heritage. This paper aims to critically reflect on some of the project’s key methodological and technological choices, such as the use of open-source GIS for georeferenced mapping, the implementation of the Strapi content management system for database construction, and the exploration of immersive environments (VRChat) to foster reenactment and user engagement. A particular focus will be placed on the profiling of users as not merely passive recipients but as active co-creators within the archival narrative.
From an epistemological perspective, this paper seeks to interrogate the evolving notion of the archive — no longer a static repository but a generative narrative infrastructure capable of producing knowledge and inspiring creative practices. The archive is thus understood as a hybrid and rhizomatic landscape in which material and immaterial dimensions — documents, objects, practices, processes — intersect and co-construct meaning in a relational and constantly shifting space.
By offering both a critical framework and a speculative design for an open, accessible, and performative archive, this paper aims to contribute to the broader discourse on knowledge infrastructures in the performing arts. It emphasizes the need for archival models that integrate digital innovation, historiographical awareness, and artistic experimentation.
Ultimately, the paper argues for a new archival paradigm — one that bridges the gap between preservation and creation, between the document and the performance — while outlining the potential of ITArchives as a model for collaborative and critical cartography in the field.
Palavras-chave: Performing arts archives, Intangible cultural heritage, Digitization and metadata, Reenactment and immersive, storytelling, Knowledge infrastructures
