TabThePAST Project: Memory, Ethics And Performativity in the Post-Communist Cultural Space

The article examines how the European project “TabThePAST – Taboo History. Fill the Past to Sense thePresent” (2023–2024) reactivates the past of theatrical censorship in Romania and the former GDR, through an interdisciplinary methodology that combines archival research, pedagogy and artistic creation. Starting from the archives of UNATC and CNSAS (The National Council for Studying the Securitate Archives), the project proposes a model of a “performative archive”, in which documents are recontextualized through educational workshops and performances such as: Un dosar X/1955, Învinsul Învingător, Nostalgia Up&Down, Controverse 1961. Cum vă place?, Dușmance ale poporului (artistic approach reactivated by the project). The analysis uses the concepts formulated by Diana Taylor, Janette Malkin, Rebecca Schneider and Aleida & Jan Assmann to investigate the relationship between archive, memory and performativity. It is argued that TabThePAST develops a form of memory pedagogy that transforms historical research into a participatory and reflective process, activating the past through corporeality, empathy and immersive technology (AR/ VR). Finally, the article places the project in the European context of theatre studies, highlighting its contribution to redefining the relationship between art, education and civic responsibility.