SAPA in Dialogue: Expertise in the Service of Research and Practice
The SAPA Foundation participates in various expert forums, contributing its specialised expertise in the archiving of the performing arts. This expertise encompasses valuation, digital infrastructures, conservation, source preservation, valorisation and outreach. Below you will find an overview of current and past events in which our experts have participated.
Upcoming event
Moving (in) the Archive. Reflections on How Dance is Being “Kept”.
12.11.2026 – 11.02.2027 / online / English
The relation of dance and the archive has been well-researched lately. However, the very material conditions when embodied knowledge enters the archive (or not) and meets with the regimes of paper, drawers, or digitised systems are yet an open terrain.
The series Moving (in) the Archive reflects and rethinks prominent discourses and scrutinizes them, against the grain. What happens when dance moves into the archive? Which dance forms are invited into it, and which ones tend to be “forgotten”? How would dance (still be able to) move, after the “event” is “gone"? And how is it that dance moves the conventional set-up of archival logic within the institution, made of shelfs, cardboard boxes, audiovisual preservation formats? Not least, in which ways does dance impact on possible futures?
Thus, the series strives to revisit and expand the discourses on the opportunities, caveats, and challenges of archiving in the performing arts. The contributions by renowned artists and scholars in the field are set up to discuss the archive’s ontological specificities, its entryways and closed doors, the power relations woven into its very frameworks and if––and if so, how––dance might find its place here, possibly rethinking and redoing how an (embodied) archive of dance acts.
Moving (in) the Archive is designed to provide some groundwork for initiating a conversation at the German Dance Archive Cologne over the next years. It will also kickstart the development of a Centre for Research and Competence in Dance in North Rhine-Westphalia. This is an exciting step for the dance archive’s history, which started off as a dance collection in the 1950s and which will now open a new, research-oriented chapter.
The series will begin online on Thu, 12 November, 6:15–7:45 pm (CET), running on a fortnightly basis, with contributions by:
Diana Taylor (USA), Siobhan Davies and Sarah Whatley (UK), Thomas F. De Frantz (USA), André Lepecki (USA) and Julia Wehren (CH), Prarthana Purkayasta (UK), Rachael Davies (UK), and Joana Tischkau (D).
Please register at: tanzarchiv@stiftungkultur.de
Past Events
International Working Group Meeting of the Society for Theatre Studies
September 7-9, 2026 / University of Bern, Schanzeneckstrasse 1, 3012 Bern / German
From September 7 to 9, 2026, a gtw working group meeting will take place at the Institute of Theatre Studies, University of Bern. The SAPA Foundation will be presented on September 8 at 5:30 PM.
Full program and further information
Digital Commons, Linked Data, and Archive Databases
30.04.2026 | Museum for Communication, Helvetiastrasse 16, 3005 Bern | German, French
Linked Open Data (LOD) enables a networked and structured presentation of information on the internet. They represent both a technological transformation and an opportunity for archives, and are central to the new description standard "Records in Contexts". Integrating archive metadata into open knowledge networks such as Wikidata allows for the linking of information across institutions and offers users new search capabilities. Thanks to standardized formats and open interfaces, data becomes not only accessible but also machine-readable and contextualized. Understanding them is therefore a prerequisite for their use.
Following a brief introduction, Nicolas Kessler and Alexandra Walter (PTT Archive) and Baptiste de Coulon (SAPA Foundation) will use concrete examples to demonstrate how they utilize and make linked data accessible in their systems. Subsequently, a discussion will collectively explore the opportunities and challenges of these approaches. In the afternoon, a practical introductory workshop on Wikidata will be offered.
VSA – Swiss Archival Practice Cycle 2026
Organisation: PTT Archive, SAPA Foundation and Gilliane Kern
Full program and further information
Oral history - collecting, preserving and making accessible experiential knowledge in theater and dance
28.11.2025 | 09.30-17.00 | Online | German
The digital conference Collection Meets Research of the Specialized Information Service for the Performing Arts (FID) will focus on the topic of oral history.
IIntroductory discussion (10:00): Why and how to use Oral History in theatre and dance studies?
- Dr Julia Wehren (University of Bern / SAPA Foundation)
- Dr Marten Weise (Humboldt University of Berlin)
- Moderation: Dr Christiane Schwerdtfeger (FID)
Participants are warmly invited to attend either the full event or selected sessions.
Swiss Performing Arts Platform: An Example of LOD Deployment by a Small Institution Without an IT Department
17.11.2025 | 15.30-16.30 | Online | English
What benefits can a small institution without an IT service gain from an LOD project?
We would like to present the example of the Swiss Performing Arts Platform, managed by the SAPA Foundation and developed in collaboration with external teams such as the Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI, Zurich) and Sparna (France).
Presentation by Baptiste de Coulon (SAPA Foundation) and Thomas Francart (Sparna).
DaSCHCon 2025 – Cultural Institutions in the Digital Age: The Future of Infrastructures
15.10.2025 | 10.00-16.30 | Bern & Online | French, English, German
The conference of the Swiss National Data and Service Center for the Humanities will take place at the Museum of Communication in Bern.
At 11.45, Baptiste de Coulon (SAPA Foundation) will speak on the topic "Implementing an Open Data Model".
How the RiC standard opens up a new era of archive description
07.10.2025 | 11.00-11.45 a.m. | Online | French
The company Amexio has invited the SAPA Foundation to share its practical insights.
How can archives be enhanced in the digital age while ensuring long-term interoperability? The international standard Records in Contexts (RiC) seeks to move beyond the traditional hierarchical model by describing archives as a dynamic network of relationships
We invite you to join our webinar on 07.10.2025 dedicated to this major development, exploring:
- The evolution of descriptive standards and the introduction of RiC (RiC-CM, RiC-O),
- Practical applications for archive services (interoperability, data quality, conversions),
- Testimony from Céline Bösch, Head of Archives at the SAPA Foundation, on the challenges faced and the benefits already observed.
Why and How to Manage Archival Collections as Linked Data Using Open-Source Software? The Example of the SAPA Foundation
09.09.2025 | 12.00-13.00 | MEG, Geneva | French
As part of the LibreABC Day, Baptiste de Coulon (SAPA Foundation) presented the implementation of linked data for archives using an open-source software infrastructure.
