ABSTRACT
In this chapter, artist and archivist Cori Olinghouse and art historian Megan Metcalf use four examples to explore how an embodied approach to archives and acquisitions transforms traditional conservation paradigms. They take a critical look at the evolving vocabulary for the continuation of performance over the long term—which spans art and dance history, museum and archival studies, and conservation theory and practice—while supplying lessons learned through decades of practice and research. In the course of their conversation and in a concluding summary, the two speakers identify a skill set as well as emerging principles for archiving forms with performance elements, calling for a generative, artist- and community-based approach to conservation. Beginning from the premise that dance and other performance forms have inherent strategies for continuation that mitigate against their assumed ephemerality, this dialogue maps rich ground for conservation of all kinds.
