"It was forty years ago today..."

Respondent or information from other source:
Dr Heike Roms, Lecturer in Performance Studies, Aberystwyth University - Principal Investigator/Project Director

Aims, policies, purpose/impetus for project:
"It was forty years ago today...": Locating the Early History of Performance Art in Wales 1965-1979' is a wider research project devoted to the history and historiography of performance art, which makes use of some Oral History methodology.

The project as a whole aims to:
1. compile as comprehensive a record as possible of performance art events that were created in Wales between 1965 and 1979, and reveal an important but hitherto neglected aspect of Welsh art history.
2. chart the manner in which performance art as an international artistic movement was negotiated in response to a specific localized cultural context during its formative years in the 1960s and 1970s, and advance our knowledge and understanding of the origins and early developments of this art form.
3. trace the ways in which knowledge of past performance events is transmitted in both documentation and verbal recollections, and examine the evidential potential of documents and testimonials for the construction of performance art histories.
4. make freely available to other researchers in the field not just the analysis of the research findings but the following additional resources: a comprehensive, fully searchable online database of performance art events in Wales 1965-1979, which also indexes the current location of available documentation on these events; and a range of related oral history recordings and transcripts, deposited in key archives in the field.

Dates: Start Date: 01 April 2009, End Date: 31 March 2011.

The project is part of a larger research enquiry, "What's Welsh for Performance? Beth yw 'Performance' yn Gymraeg?" - A research project devoted to uncovering and archiving the history of performance art in Wales.
Details on a smaller oral history pilot project are listed under "Oral History Project 1"

Key individuals and roles involved:
1. Heike Roms - principal investigator, interviewer, project director
2. Postdoctoral Research Assistant - co-investigator, interviewer; to be appointed

Paid or voluntary, training in oral history:
Employed by Aberystwyth University and financed by an AHRC Research Grant (see below).
Heike Roms (PI) completed Oral history training by Oral History Society/ British Library Sound Archive.
RA to complete Oral history training in 2009.

Project funded by:
AHRC Research Grant (Standard) - grant awarded 18 December 2008

Management of project: Within a University Department.

Format of interviews:
Audio: in PCM WAV format (uncompressed) and burnt to DVD or CDR (with additional copy as an MP3 for playback/ transcription).
Video: on DV-tape based HD Camcorder, edited as .avi file and burnt to DVD.
CDs and DVDs will be Archive Standard Gold.

How interviewees are selected and located:
The project will identify approx. 40 key figures (artists and administrators) who shaped performance art in Wales between 1965 and 1979. The project will draw on several oral history approaches to solicit their recollections of past performance events: a. 'Life Story' Approach - selection: artists who created a substantial body of work in Wales between 1965-1979 (approx. 10 interviews with 13 artists); b. On-Site interviews - selection: eyewitnesses to the scene at a significant location over an extended period (approx 5 interviews); c. Group interviews - selection: Wales-based and visiting artists and administrators who contributed to significant events or scenes (approx 5 events with 3-4 interviewees each).

Interview running time: Tbc

Copyright in interviews. Assignment rights?:
Copyright holder - Dr Heike Roms
The project will ask all interviewees to assign copyright by completing and signing a clearance form, which will allow interviewees to specify access restrictions. (This also includes audio and video extracts to be published on the project's website.)

Location of interview copies. Accessibility to public/format:
Mastercopy (on Archive Gold DVD) will be stored in What's Welsh for Performance? collection, Heike Roms, Aberystywth University.

Further copies (on DVD) will be accessible through:
- National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales NSSAW (National Library of Wales)
- Centre for Performance Research, Aberystwyth
- Live Art Archives, University of Bristol.
- British Library National Sound Archive (to be confirmed).

Collection contact details/web link:
Interview transcripts /lists of topics or other content indexes
All interviews will be transcribed in the language in which the interview is conducted (English or Welsh) and transcription summaries will be published in English and Welsh.

Cataloguing:
Transcript summaries are in preparation to be published on the project's website.

Future plans for project/interviews?:
Transcripts, summaries, audio and video extracts of interview events will be published online at: www.performance-wales.org.
A compilation of transcripts and interview extracts on DVD will be published by e-publication (publisher: Performance Research Books)

Materials used for publications, exhibitions, conferences, radio/TV programmes or performances etc or future plans for this?:
See above

Project web site: Performance Art in Wales

List on a joint (possibly STR website):Yes

Join listserv/emailing list/forum:Yes

Further information:
For more information on the project see:
Heike Roms (2008) 'Eventful Evidence: Historicizing Performance Art', Maska. 117-118 (Issue: History - Experience - Archive) (Autumn 2008), pp. 69-77.

List of interviewees provided: Future project so none as yet