Performing arts archive: from database to knowledge base

In order to catalogue a theatrical production as a cultural object, it is necessary to change our point of view. A theatrical production has to be considered as a total work of art and must be catalogued and displayed as such. This macrocosm has been broken up in order to be catalogued. Each part of it has been studied independently of the production for which it was created. For this reason, I would assert that it is necessary to use new digital technologies and a team of specialists (scholars of history of theatre, of visual art, musicologists, engineers, etc.) who analyze the components, without losing the final objective sight, the production as a whole. To achieve this aim, we must move from the paper or digital card related to a single element of the performing arts (e.g. costume, sketch, video, etc.) and go through an innovative and structured data model (PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE BASE). The prototype of the knowledge base, which I designed, provides a Search Engine with an appropriate User Interface.