The Media Library for Dance and Theater is a place of artistic and scientific research and discussion for actors in the performing arts.

With currently around 12,000 videos and supplementary materials, the Media Library for Dance and Theatre is one of the most extensive publicly accessible audiovisual documentation centres for the performing arts in Germany. It documents developments in contemporary dance, theatre and performative production formats.

The ITI’s Media Studio also continuously carries out the documentation of dance and theatre productions on film itself, which can be viewed in the media library. The digitisation and preservation of the audiovisual as well as supplementary documents are also an important field of work in this area.

Examining the documentation in the media library critically and in terms of content together with artists and researchers is also an important concern. Profound insights into artistic and cultural developments in the performing arts are provided in detailed descriptions and thematically organised visual materials.

The media library in Berlin’s Kunstquartier Bethanien can be used free of charge and without registration. Introductory talks on the media library’s work for groups provide insights into the workings of the media library.

The media library is also a place of exchange on artistic, cultural-political, technological developments in dance and theater and thus an interface of archival, theoretical and theater-practical work. In this context, the close connection to rehearsal and research processes in the STUDIO2 of the ITI is characterized in the work area Archive and Practice.

The Mediathek is a project of the german Center of ITI, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).

Selected digitization projects of the Mediathek:

Tanzfabrik Berlin

Biomechanics of Meyerhold

Nonverbal Theater in East Berlin

Networking Media Libraries