Performing Data

An investigation of how artists use data in creating performance and how data is visualised in researching performance.

“The book offers an interesting and accessible entry point into the use of digital tools and processes for analyzing historical performance data, offering a key resource for those tracing the contours of digital cultures.” – William W. Lewis, Purdue University, USA.

Highlighting how artists embody data in live performance, this book explores the ways theatre is engaging with data, improving data literacy and driving social critique. It explains how sharing information about performance in databases yields insights into touring patterns, long-term programming and influence across generations of artists. Types of data considered include play scripts, publicity material, production records, videos and images of performance, geographical locations of venues and networks of artists and collaborators.

Each chapter is organised around a key idea about data as performance, dramaturgy, documentation, flow and genealogy. A range of performances are explored from around the world, including The Builders’ Association’s I Agree to the Terms (USA 2022), Binge Culture’s You and AI (Aotearoa 2024), Rimini Protokoll’s 100% City series (since 2008), Fight Night by The Border Project and Ontroerend Goed (2013; 2024) and Algorithmen by Turbo Pascal (Germany 2014), among many others. Interweaving digital methods with dramaturgical research, this study is of interest to anyone looking for creative ways to engage with data and performance.