The archive
The festival
The National Review of Live Art is an annual festival of live and performance art produced by New Moves International. The festival emerged from events held at the Midland Group in Nottingham during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It acquired its current name in 1986, which is also the year in which video documentation began. Since then, it has been held at various venues, including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Arches and, since 2006, the Tramway in Glasgow.
Artists who have performed at the festival over the years, and whose work is documented in the archive, include:
- Franko B.
- Bobby Baker
- DV8 Physical Theatre
- Forced Entertainment
- Guillermo Gómez-Peña
- Richard Layzell
- Alastair MacLennan
- Geraldine Pilgrim
Video documenting the festival
The festival's video archive is held in the Live Art Archives at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.
Video documenting of the National Review of Live Art began in 1986. The collection, which was initially held by New Moves International and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, moved to the University of Glasgow in 1993. It was transferred to Nottingham Trent University's department of performing arts in 1999, where it became part of the Live Art Archives. It moved again, with the rest of the Live Art Archives, to the Theatre Collection in 2006.
The archive consists of nearly 1,000 videocassettes in various formats:
- U-matic (1986–1990)
- VHS (1993–2001)
- Mini DV (2001–present)
Both the U-matic and VHS cassettes are showing signs of degradation through age and use.