Multiplicity in the documentation of performance-based artworks: Displaying multi-media documentation in Rebecca Horn’s Body Sculptures at Tate

Abstract

This paper addresses some of the key issues around authenticity within the ephemeral performance and durable document dichotomy. Engaging with these two artistic practices within the frame of the museum and in the context of displays and exhibitions, this paper considers some of the ways in which the role of performance documentation has been reassessed over the past 20 years. It will focus on the access the document provides to a now-absent ‘performance moment’, the benefit of acquiring and displaying multiple types of documentation, and the experience of the museum visitor within this.