LADA provides Resources, Opportunities, Projects and Publishing for the support and development of artists, audiences, students, writers, presenters and researchers in the UK and internationally. We work with some of the most challenging artists, practices and ideas of our times, and create the conditions in which difficulty, diversity, innovation and risk in contemporary culture can thrive. For the last 15 years LADA and produced a range of significant programmes including Live Culture at Tate Modern (2003), Performance Matters (2010-2014) and published books such as Out of Now: The Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh (2006) and Pleading in the Blood: The Art and Performance of Ron Athey (2013). LADA also houses the world's largest open access Study Room of Live Art related books and documentation.

The Live Art Development Agency is one of the world’s leading Live Art publishers, specialising in critical titles on influential ideas and practitioners; artist-led publications and Editions; Box Set artworks, resources and tools; free online publications; and on-demand DVDs. All the Agency’s titles can be purchased on Unbound.

We have worked with Common Practice Video Network on this short video to showcase some of the titles we have published in recent years. Below is some more about how we think about our publishing activities and how you can get involved.

How LADA Publishing Works

LADA’s publishing policy is diverse, spanning partnerships with major publishers on key critical titles; publishing our own books, DVDs and online content; and co-publishing artists’ books, editions DVDs, including works made for the web.

The Agency specialises in artist-led publications and editions such as Marcia Farquhar’s 12 Shooters and Tim Etchells' Heroes & Heroines of Live Art T-Shirts. We collaborate with artists on innovative print & DVD ‘box sets’ that function as artworks, resources and critical tools. These include Joshua Sofaer’s Performance Pack and The Many Headed Monster, Documenting Live, Access All Areas: Live Art and Disability, and M21: From the Medieval to the 21st Century.

LADA also partners with major publishers on key critical titles including Out of Now - The Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh, a co-publication with The MIT Press; Live: Art and Performance with Tate Publishing, Programme Notes: Case studies for locating experimental theatre and The Live Art Almanac Volume 3, both co-published with Oberon Books; and Perform, Record, Repeat with Intellect Books.

Intellect Live

In 2013, the Agency and Intellect Books launched Intellect Live, a new series of publications on influential artists working at the edges of performance. The series is characterized by lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed books, created through close collaborations between artists and writers, each of which is the first substantial publication dedicated to an artists’ work. The first two Intellect Live books are Throwing the Body Into The Fight, a portrait of Raimund Hoghe, edited by Mary Kate Connolly, and Pleading in the Blood: The Art and Performances of Ron Athey, edited by Dominic Johnson.

Get involved with LADA Publishing

Live Online Open Call - The Agency issues an annual open call for proposals from artists to create online video content representative of their practice, featuring works made for camera and/or documentation of performances. Three artists a year are offered honorariums to produce digital content that the Agency will publish and distribute through our website. This opportunity has superseded our on Demand DVD call. Look out for the call in the coming months!

The Live Art Almanac - The Agency issues open calls for proposals for submissions for the Live Art Almanac, a biennial international co-publication which draws together a wide range of writing on and around Live Art ranging from more traditional forms such as newspaper, journal and magazine articles, and lectures to blogs, Facebook pages and emails. Editions of the Live Art Almanac have been published in partnership with Oberon Books, Live Art UK, PS 122 (New York, USA), Performance Space (Sydney, Australia), La Pocha Nostra (San Francisco, USA), and Maska (Ljubljana, Slovenia). Look out for the call for submission for Almanac Volume 4 soon.

Get in Touch - The Agency is always open to proposals for collaborations on distinctive publications and video content and other publishing ideas. Please contact us if you wish to make a proposal.