Award-winning choreographer William Forsythe donates archive to ZKM

For 50 years William Forsythe has influenced the perception of choreographic practice through his visionary concepts and productions. The award-winning American choreographer now transfers his extensive archive to ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, which will ensure the long-term preservation of audiovisual media and documents and make them accessible to the public.

William Forsythe (born 1949, New York) has been active in the field of choreography for over 50 years. Her work is recognized for reorienting the practice of ballet from its identification with the classical repertoire to a dynamic 21st century art form. Forsythe's deep interest in the fundamental principles of organizing choreography has led him to produce a wide range of projects, including installations, film, and the creation of web-based knowledge.

The work of ZKM and William Forsythe are linked by their interdisciplinary experimental practice that spans all artistic formats. Thus, the CD-ROM “William Forsythe: Improvisation Technologies. A Tool for the Analytical Dance Eye” developed by William Forsythe with the ZKM in 1999 was groundbreaking for its exploration and transmission of choreographic concepts via digital media. The transfer of the William Forsythe Archive to the ZKM builds on these joint artistic collaborations and paves the way for a new long-term perspective for academic and artistic research.

The archive material covers William Forsythe's creative period since the 1970s in its entirety: from his time with the Stuttgart Ballet, starting in 1976, Ballet Frankfurt (1984–2004) and The Forsythe Company (2005–2015) Until now. Contains an extensive collection of video recordings of rehearsals, performances and installations, as well as programmes, posters, reviews, photographs, publications, correspondence, awards and other documents. In the longer term, William Forsythe's personal production notes will also be added to the archive.

By delivering the archive to the ZKM and making it available to the public and researchers, there is now an opportunity to explore Forsythe's revolutionary collective collaborations, making it useful for future artistic research. The long-term preservation of the William Forsythe Archive's valuable video holdings is ensured by the ZKM's proven expertise in the field of audiovisual media, as well as the acclaimed work of the ZKM's Laboratory for Old-fashioned Video Systems.