| International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle |  |
Inaugural address by Jaak van Schoor, President of the Flemish Centre of the International Theatre Institute Documents et Témoignages des Arts du Spectacle: Pourquoi et Comment? / Collecting and Recording the Performing Arts: Why and How? Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle / International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts 20ème Congrès International / 20th International Congress Antwerp 4-7 September 1994. Acta. Antwerp : 1995, p. 17-19 Madam Chairman of SIBMAS International, Dear colleagues, As it is a custom to speak Dutch in this temple of Dutch dramatic art, indeed once called Le Théâtre Français, I will not deviate from this rule. Twenty three years ago, SIBMAS held its tenth conference in the Royal Library of Brussels, in co-ordination with the Belgian ITI(UNESCO); Brussels also hosts the office of the French-speaking ITI-wing. Today, and for the first time, the SIBMAS conference is organised by the Archives and Museum of Flemish Culture (AMVC)and Roger Rennenberg; the Flemish Centre of the ITI is linked to both the institution and the person. At that time, one of the core themes was the normalisation of the catalographic data. An international data bank was mentioned,as well as the possibilities of tape recording and video registration.The interest for the conference was vast, the lectures clearly indicated in which direction one should be headed, many things were scarcely out of the egg. In those times, Flanders counted approximately twenty subsidised theatre companies, mainly smaller companies which worked in the margin of the historic triangle of the Flemish professional theatre,to be more precise, the triangle between Antwerp, Ghent, and Brussels. An institute or a theatrical department in one of our universities were unheard of. The number of subsidised theatre groups has doubled by now, numerous young groups are very active, some eight art centres where theatre forms an important part and of which at least three have international ambitions, a chain of some 70 cultural centres provides a national dispersion of the performing arts so that the best productions can be viewed in every corner of the country. The public interest for the theatre has increased quite considerable compared to 1972 and especially youngsters have become very active and sometimes very self-willed participants. The Universities now have four theatrical departments, a mutual programme which includes the collaboration between the University of Antwerp, the University of Ghent, the Catholic University of Leuven and the Free University of Brussels, a so-called Inter-university Specialised Branch TW and the adhesion via Erasmus with approximately 22 foreign universities (a.o. London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam,Utrecht, Munich, etc.) The co-operation with the Netherlands has increased on every theatrical level. As far as the theatre is concerned, the border between North and South has almost ceased to exist. One of the resultis the Theatre Festival and the bi-location, currently in The Hague and Antwerp. The major problem of the theatres during the70'ies, the pitiful infrastructure, has been almost complete solved: our major towns own - as this theatre proofs - beautifully restoredand renovated theatres. It is a pleasure to notice that, especially in a time of crisis, great efforts are being made for culture in general and for the performing arts in particular. It is very fortunate that Antwerp,the most important theatre town in Flanders and cultural capital of Europe '93, has played a leading part in this development. In the margin of this renewed interest for theatre life, the Archives and Museum of Flemish Culture, holds an almost unique position with its theatre collection. As the oldest and by far richest ollection of Flanders it has a pilot function. By means of supervision and mediation, as a bridge to practice, it helps to construct a theatre-culture, not only its collective memory or rich history, but also its current affairs. Because the double-faced head ofthe theatre always shows both present and past. This house is not only the first address for information for theatrical scientists, historians and philologists, but also for many dramatists, directors,scenographers, producers of specialised magazines, yearbooks, etc. It is, as Georges Banu once mentioned, not only "le musée imaginaire du spectateur", but mainly "le stockage mnémonique ou le théâtre lui-même s'alimente", a remaining stimulus for a culture of participation, the actual food for a culture of constant innovation which does not neglect its roots, but, quite the contrary, strengthens them. And also to stem the idea that theatre is disposable culture or commercial consumption. The continuous completion of the collections, the contacts with other countries, a.o. via SIBMAS and FIRT and the sister organisations ITI and VTI confirm this view. In this context, a number of assignments seem to be called for future times and please allow me to outline some fragments of this future vision. Co-ordination is highly needed: in this small country we still have not established a systemized survey of everything which concerns information about the performing arts. I think that this could be a task for the AMVC, which, together with the centres in Brussels (VTI) and Ghent (Documentation Centre of the Performing Arts),the universities, town archives and other collections, can complete this assignment. Each of the three, four or more documentation-centres could execute specific tasks, while taking the already achieved work into account. A combination of strengths is necessary for this objective, Antwerp could play a centrifugal role. The accessibility of the collections has to be a main issue, both on a national and on a European level. A project-subsidy should enable this. Specific point of interest in this context is the problem of systemisatio nof the iconography, which is obviously an important international problem which has been discussed during several meetings and by various research centres. Belgium, and more specifically Flanders, owns a wealth of iconographic material with respect to the performing arts; the integration in a national and international data-bank is one of the major necessities. The field, and then especially universities but also town libraries and the theatres express an even growing demand for a systemized video file. Numerous smaller initiatives, probably many private initiatives, exist. But a national policy in this matter is absent. However, everybody knows that studying the theatre and the performing arts is no longer possible without moving images. Libraries want to inform on current and past remarkable performances etc. A solution can only be found by means of co-operation; as such,a national and international videotheque can be constructed. In a time where the Flemish universities reach out for each other, in spite of individual interests or ideological differences, in a time where, thanks to the collaboration between a dozen universities in Flanders and the Netherlands a common theatre history is written (which will be published in 1996), we can not fail in providing scientists, theatre people and the public with all the means for constructing the "musée imaginaire du spectateur", but mainly an essential part of our culture which, directly or indirectly, involves us all. ITI is determined that both AMVC and SIBMAS can play a leading part in this development. So far come considerations which are connected to the immediate practice. I know that these plans can not be realised overnight and I would like to recall what Cécile Giteau stated in 1972 to be the intellectual and moral keys as requirements for the documentary-research: logic, method, perseverance, patience, ambition and modesty. I would like to add the feeling of solidarityto this list. Especially solidarity with today's youngsters who, more than ever before, are interested in everything which involves theatre. We can not and may not ignore this hunger. I wish you a fruitful action for this conference. 20th Congress URL: http://www.sibmas.org/congresses/sibmas94/antw_4.html |
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