TKB: an open platform as "archive" of compositional processes in performing arts

TKB (Transmedia Knowledge-Base for the Performing Arts (TKB)1 is an open-ended resource, operating indeed much more as a Knowledge-Base allowing living artists to share their works (either past or in progress) than as a common “archive” in its conventional sense. Some have called it a “platform”, others a “site” or even a “database”, while most users simply use the acronym TKB, albeit not necessarily always aware of the underlying concept of a multimodal knowledge base. Its intent has been to foster conceptual connections (made visual by means of a dynamic graph) among registered artists, through self-curated content tags, which link the artists’ respective working fields to the work of those using the same tags.The platform opens up with an initial dynamic graph connecting several artists and groups from the Portuguese dance scene at random and without creating any type of hierarchy. This graph is the result of the individual registration of each artist represented in the platform. When brows-ing and selecting an artist, visitors can visualize the materials uploaded by that very artist, but also by other artists or organizations, whom he or she has chosen to be connected with. By clicking on the name of each artist you reach a page where you access all the materials chosen by that respective artist to be shared in the platform. For instance, if you are looking for the piece I Am Here, by choreographer João Fiadeiro (2003), you click: João Fiadeiro, Works, Dance, Solo Works, I Am Here (2003), and you will reach the video of this piece in the artists’ Vimeo page collection. Several search categories help the user quickly find what they are looking for: users’ names (artists and others), type of content or location, with a series of content tags that each artist is encouraged to choose at the moment of uploading their materials, in order to allow their work to be shared with other artists with whom they share working fields, specific interests or themes.