"It was forty years ago today...": Locating the Early History of Performance Art in Wales 1965-1979

Project start date: 2009-04 Project end date: 2011-03
The project examines how performance art histories are constructed, paying particular attention to the development of the art form in the context of Wales. The project proposes to reveal this hitherto neglected aspect of performance art history by compiling as comprehensive a record as possible of events that were created in Wales by local and visiting artists between 1965 and 1979 in the form of a fully searchable online database of performance art events in Wales 1965-1979, which also indexes the current location of available documentation on these events; and a range of oral history recordings and transcripts, to be deposited in key archives. It will undertake extensive research into extant documentary material held in institutional archives and scattered across the private collections of artists and organisations. Complementing this research, the project will draw on oral history approaches to solicit the recollections of key figures who shaped the development of performance art in Wales during this period, a generation that is slowly disappearing.
Era(s): 
Country/region(s): 
Methods usedCategory
IndexingData analysis
PhotographyPractice-led research
Sound recordingData capture
DocumentationStrategy and project management
Image manipulationPractice-led research
Sound editingData structuring and enhancement
Video editingData structuring and enhancement
soundContent types
moving imageContent types
textContent types
Funding sources: 
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Content types created: 
Dataset/structured data, Moving Image, Sound, Still Image/Graphics, Text
Software tools used: 
Javascript, Quicktime
Source material used:  
Sources have been collected by the researchers from various public archives (including the National Arts Education Archive, West Glamorgan Archive, Glamorgan Record Office, British Library, National Library of Wales), and a number of private archives that have not previously been open to researchers. We have taken digital copies of photographs, slides, negatives, notes, scripts and ephemera. All of this material is logged on our online, searchable database available on our web page.
Digital resource created:  
An online searchable resource containing as complete a record as is possible of performance art events in Wales from January 1965 to the present day. Currently containing details of more than 1,800 events, the database combines: a record of dates and venues, artists' accounts, reviews, photographic records, oral histories and an index of other available documentary materials (audio-visual documentation, publications, ephemera, imagery or memory) and their locations. The database is designed to permit online searches across all materials, including the index of other resources. The index points users to existing archives (including artists' own private collections) where material on performance in Wales is currently held.
Access to digital resource:  
Open Access
Data Formats created: 
Graphics interchange format file (GIF), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)

Institutions affiliated with this project: 

UK HE institutions involved:
Aberystwyth University

Project staff and expertise: 

Principal staff member:Heike Roms, Rebecca Edwards
Other staff:
External expertise:


Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record
Author(s) of recordRebecca Edwards
Title"It was forty years ago today...": Locating the Early History of Performance Art in Wales 1965-1979
Record created2010-06-01
Record updated2010-06-22 17:57
URL of recordhttp://www.arts-humanities.net/node/3723
Citation of recordRebecca Edwards: "It was forty years ago today...": Locating the Early History of Performance Art in Wales 1965-1979.
<http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/3723>
created: 2010-06-01, last updated 2010-06-22 17:57