Body as Archive Revisited
On 14 January 2027, Julia Wehren from the University of Bern and the SAPA Foundation, Swiss Archive of the Performing Arts, will be in conversation with André Lepecki, Professor and Chair of the Department of Performance Studies at New York University. Entitled Body as Archive Revisited, their discussion will explore what it means to view the body itself as an archive.
The dialogue is part of the international lecture and discussion series Moving (in) the Archive. Reflections on How Dance is Being «Kept» by the German Dance Archives Cologne. The series explores what happens when dance enters the archive: which dance forms are recorded, which are forgotten, and how does dance alter the logic of the archive with its shelves, boxes, and audiovisual storage formats? At the core are the material conditions under which embodied knowledge encounters archival structures, as well as the opportunities and complexities of digitization.
Taking place online every two weeks from 12 November 2026 to 11 February 2027, the series also marks the launch of the planned establishment of a dance research and competence centre in North Rhine-Westphalia. Further guests include Diana Taylor (12 November), Sarah Whatley and Siobhan Davies (26 November), Thomas F. DeFrantz (10 December), Prarthana Purkayastha (28 January), as well as Rachael Davies and Joana Tischkau (11 February).
Information about the event
- Body as Archive Revisited – André Lepecki and Julia Wehren | 14 Jan 2027, 6:15–7:45 pm | Online, in English | Free admission | Registration: tanzarchiv@stiftungkultur.de
- Moving (in) the Archive. Reflections on How Dance is Being «Kept» | 12.11.2026 – 11.2.2027 | Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln, Im Mediapark 7, 50670 Köln | www.deutsches-tanzarchiv.de
