Program Booklet of the Mini-Symposium “Performance Is the Archive, the Archive Is Performance”

How can we preserve what is disappearing?
How can we remember performance – not as a record, but as an act?
How do the audience, artists, and space together form a breathing archive?

We invite you to a mini-symposium titled “Performance Is the Archive, the Archive Is Performance”, held as part of the project “Living Heritage: Critical Approaches and Innovative Methods for the Preservation of Performing Arts”, organized by the artistic organization Shadow Casters.

Date: December 19, 2025
Time: 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM
Venue: DHFA (Croatian Society of Film Authors and Producers), Boškovićeva 23, Zagreb
Symposium language: English
The symposium will also be available to follow online via a link coming soon.

Moderators:
Dr. Sandra Uskoković and Boris Bakal

Participants:

Boris Bakal – director, performer, and curator of performing arts
Sandra Uskoković – art historian and researcher
Viktorija Pilon – assistant and conservator-restorer

This mini-symposium brings together artists, theorists, and audiences to explore performance art as a mnemonic, affective, and ethical act. We are not interested in fixing performance, but rather in its repeatability, evolution, and transformation in dialogue with the community.

Through lectures, dialogue, and collective reflection, we open up the following questions:

• Can the memory of a performance be performed, rather than merely recorded
• How does affective memory (emotions, body, space) translate into heritage?
• Can technology be an ally rather than an adversary of live presence?

The program consists of three blocks, with contributions from: Sergej Pristaš, Zvonimir Dobrović and Bruno Isaković, Bill Aitchison, Ivana Keser, Stanko Juzbašić, Tomislav Pletenac, Petar Grimani, Igor Ružić, Aideen Barry, Nika Radić, and Janez Janša.

A detailed description of the program can be found in our program booklet designed by Ivan Klisurić.
Programska knjižica Arhiv je izvedba

Project partners: DHFA (Croatian Society of Film Authors and Producers) + Pogon – Centre for Independent Culture and Youth + MO Savica & Trnje City District
Project support: City of Zagreb – Office for Culture and Civil Society + Ministry of Culture and Media
Support for the work of Bacači Sjenki: City of Zagreb – Office for Culture and Civil Society + National Foundation for Civil Society Development + Kultura Nova Foundation + Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) and others.