Study Room

"Their open-access Study Room provides a gateway into a provocative, challenging yet wonder-full world"
The Independent's 50 Best Museums and Galleries (October 2010)

 

The Study Room is the core resource of the Live Art Development Agency and is a free, open access research facility used by artists, students, curators, academics and other arts professionals.

The Study Room can be used to view artist’s work, read publications, undertake research projects, find out general information about Live Art, opportunities and networks.

The Study Room houses one of the largest publicly accessible libraries of Live Art related videos, dvds and publications in the UK and for many people the resource is one of the only opportunities to view documentation of performances that they were unable to experience ‘live’.

This collection is constantly growing. For an up to date list of our materials, please use the links on the left to view the relevant database.

The Study Room holds:

  • A comprehensive collection of publications ranging from theoretical texts to books on individual artists’ work.
  • A range of British and international magazines, journals and back issues: including: Performance Research, Janus, High Performance, Hybrid, and Virus.
  • Several thousand dvds, videos, and cds of performance documents and documentation.
  • The Library of Performing Rights, a unique resource examining the intersection between performance and Human Rights. See below for more details.
  • Information on key and current UK and international organisations and events.
  • Information on facilities, training, networking, support structures, professional development opportunities, funding and policy for Live Art.

To browse our catalogue of publications and articles see here.

To browse our catalogue of videos and dvds see here.

 

As part of the continuous development  of the Study Room we have commissioned a range of artists and commentators to write personal Study Room Guides to help navigate users through this resource.

Feedback from different users of the Agency's Study Room can be downloaded here.

The Study Room is a reference only resource and we are unable to lend any of the materials. Unfortunately we have no photocopying facilities.

Bookings

If you would like to book an appointment to use the research facilities in the Study Room please contact us by telephone or email. We recommend booking your visit at least a week in advance and suggesting a range of possible days.

The Library of Performing Rights

The Study Room is home to The Library of Performing Rights, a unique resource containing over 250 publications, videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs, brochures, digital and web-based initiatives submitted by artists, activists and academics from around the world that examine the intersection between performance and Human Rights.

The Library was developed by the Agency in collaboration with Lois Weaver and Queen Mary University of London for Performance Studies international 12: Performing Rights in 2006, and has since been presented in Vienna and Glasgow as part of the Agency’s Performing Rights programmes.

The Library of Performing Rights catalogue can be downloaded here.

The Library is also available to tour.

Call for new submissions for the Library's tour to Brazil and Latin American in 2012.

 

Watching Videotapes

The Live Art Development Agency is engaged in a long-term project to digitize the 759 videotapes held in the Study Room. To avoid possible damage to the videotapes, these are not available for viewing in the Study Room, however:

• A digitized copy of any videotape is available on request. If we have not yet digitized the videotape you would like to watch, we require three working days to make this available. Please request your title in person or by phone 020 7033 0275 or email info@thisisliveart.co.uk
• Some videotapes have now been digitized, and are available to watch on a computer in the Study Room. Please ask/contact us about this.

Videotapes are cataloged using "V" at the start of the catalogue/reference number. For example, V0447.