Overview

RLAP has evolved from the original Live Art Archive (LAA) which was first established in January 1994 when the Arts Council of England invited Professor Barry Smith at The Nottingham Trent University to formalise and expand his research collection in order to create as complete and current a record as possible of Live Art events in England from around 1960 onwards. This Archive was subsequently developed as a unique research resource at Nottingham Trent University and it then transferred to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection in January 2006 where it continues to grow.

What the collection holds

RLAP holds over 20,000 separate records relating to Live Art, across 2,300 'files' of individual artists and collectives, organisations and venues, projects and festivals (grouped alphabetically), as well as journals and magazines, including full sets of Hybrid, Primary Sources and LiveArt Magazine, from the 1980s to the present. It is mostly paper-based although it does contain some videos, DVDs - including a set of Reza Aboh DVDs - audio-tapes and slides. In 2009 the Live Art Development Agency (LADA) deposited over 200 artist files, identified in the catalogue as a 'LADA file'.  

Further information

A searchable catalogue of RLAP 'file' names is available through the Theatre Collection online catalogue (clicking on the underlined Ref No will begin to open up the directory or 'hierarchy' of the archive catalogue). However, as detailed catalogue descriptions of the items held within each file are only currently available for a small number of files, please contact us before visiting to find out more about their contents. 

The RLAP archive continues to grow as a record of Live Art practice within the UK. If you have material that you think would complement the collection and would be interested in donating it to the Theatre Collection's Live Art Archives we'd love to hear from you!