Theatre is not a thermometer of society; it is the fever. The archive is the aftermath that recalls that fever. In this thesis I theorize about the status of audiovisual documentation, its functionality, and its ontological relation with the performance. I argue that the film of a performance does not constitute evidence per se, but it acquires such status through the concurrence of other documents and archival artifacts existentially related to the theatrical production. I also propose that the audiovisual document becomes a substitute for the performance when it has disappeared from the historical world, becoming the new referent for other documents that also speak of the original performance. In the body of my thesis I introduce the trope of the Model Performance (MP), defined as the epitome of all the shows performed throughout the cycle of a theatrical production, in order to problematize the assumed stable nature of the performance as rather an evolvable entity impossible to document in its whole process. The MP, as a construct, allows me to formulate five orientations the archivist could take into account when deciding which, among the successive shows a production performs, should be audiovisually documented. It is through all these ruminations that finally I arrive to the conclusion of creating a holistic archival model using the new digital technologies, that I think are the best present media to recall and to assess the fever.

Cette thèse vise à explorer les enjeux et modalités de la patrimonialisation liées à la mémoire sociale, dans le contexte paradigmatique de l’immatériel qui de manière croissante mobilise des formes abouties de partenariat avec l’acteur social, en vue de conduire l’inventaire de son patrimoine. À partir de terrains français et brésiliens, cette recherche s’intéresse plus particulièrement au travail partenarial de documentation audiovisuelle du patrimoine qui intervient dans de tels dispositifs d’inventaire partagé, pour y saisir les transformations techniques, épistémologiques et symboliques à l’œuvre lors de la collecte de mémoire au sein du groupe social, de l’introduction du témoignage dans le processus de production des savoirs liés au patrimoine en devenir, et de sa mise en support grâce au média audiovisuel. Nous interrogeons ici le geste documentaire assumé par l’acteur social en qualité de chercheur indigène ainsi que le devenir médiatique de l’objet de patrimoine qu’il engage. C’est toute la question de la circulation, et à travers celle-ci de la fixation et de la transmission des savoirs qui se dessine ici, à partir d’une réflexion sur les usages sociaux des dispositifs patrimoniaux contemporains. Ce travail s’attache ainsi d’une part à décrire les modalités du travail de mémoire réalisé dans de tels dispositifs. Il met ici au jour le parcours de l’acteur social lors d’un tel exercice mémoriel ainsi que le traitement singulier de l’objet patrimonial et de sa mise en savoir. La recherche s’intéresse alors plus précisément aux processus d’appropriation et de réflexivité qu’entraîne la pratique partenariale de la documentation audiovisuelle du patrimoine. À partir de telles modalités, la thèse réfléchit d’autre part au régime de patrimonialisation singulier en jeu, tel qu’il s’organise autour de la fabrique continue et partagée d’une mémoire sociale du groupe, dont nous repérons la valeur médiatrice au sein du groupe social. La recherche montre enfin combien les dispositifs patrimoniaux contemporains contournent la fixation des savoirs et orchestrent leur transmission recréatrice, selon l’idée proposée d’une mémoire agissante. / This thesis aims to explore the heritage-making processes in community-based participatory work forming social memory in Brazil’s guarani communities and France. Inspired by the intangible heritage paradigm, experts and institutions increasingly act in close partnership with the social actor in conducting cultural heritage inventories for formalizing the protection, promotion and revitalization of traditional practices through knowledge production. The so-called holders of memory then become “indigenous researchers” in audiovisual documentation processes that orchestrate such inventories. Drawing on interviews, document and discourse analysis, this thesis seeks to shed light on the technical, epistemological, and symbolic shift at play in the construction of memory in such a partnership framework. This work interrogates the documentary gesture posed by the partnering social actor and the future mediatic status it for the heritage-in-making object hereby documented. In this perspective, the thesis engages with the question of traditional knowledge circulation, fixation, and transmission within a given social group, in the specific time and space-frame of the heritage inventory projects. This work considers theoretical issues at stake within the intangible paradigm, revealing the heritage paradox that exist between the knowledge stabilization effort and the living, and the metamorphic essence of cultural practices. This aporia is examined herein through the lens of the documentation projects conducted, in an attempt to identify their stance and strategies towards it. By deciphering the operational framework of the partnering video inventories, his thesis reveals existing social strategies used to discard ontological resistance of culture to becoming heritage : audiovisual documentation of personal testimonies here appears as a tool to record heritage in a flexible, non-binding media sustaining the ongoing cycle of meaning being susceptible to change and reinterpretation. In the videos, heritage is not dissected and precisely described as one could expect. Rather, it is discussed through non-descriptive content, with open questions and pointers only alluding and constantly challenging its meaning. By eluding content stabilization, knowledge production relies on a complex system of change and continuity, allowing only frames of meaning to be passed on, within which each participant can recreate meaning for himself. The thesis also highlights the reflexive and communicational competence building process associated with the social actor participating in the project, showing how such experiences follow a path of heritage appropriation, culminating in a renewed desire to cultivate one’s heritage. Third, the thesis attempts to theorize the heritage-making model studied here to elucidate the interplay of heritage and memory in the intangible paradigm. Memory is here seen as an unfolding experience, a work of engagement and cultural recreation mobilized by the heritage-making process to activate a dynamic knowledge transmission pattern within the very life of its projects. / AO objetivo desta tese é explorar os desafios e as modalidades da patrimonialização ligados àmemória social, no contexto paradigmático do imaterial que, de forma crescente, mobiliza formas acabadas de parceria com os atores sociais, visando gerir o inventário de seu patrimônio.A partir das realidades francesa e brasileira, esta pesquisa discute particularmente oprotagonismo no trabalho de documentação audiovisual do patrimônio que interfere nos dispositivos do inventário compartilhado. Busca assim entender as transformações técnicas,epistemológicas e simbólicas que ocorrem durante o registro da memória ao interior do gruposocial, com a introdução do depoimento no processo de produção de saberes ligados ao patrimônio que se constitui e de sua disponibilização através dos meios audiovisuais. Indagamos aqui sobre a prática de documentação assumida pelo ator social na qualidade depesquisador indígena, assim como sobre as consequências midiáticas do objeto de patrimônio por ele incorporado. Trata-se da questão de circulação e, através dela, da fixação e datransmissão de saberes que aqui se configura, a partir de uma reflexão sobre os usos sociais dosdispositivos patrimoniais contemporâneos. Este trabalho se propõe assim a descrever as modalidades da produção de memória realizadacom tais dispositivos: ele atualiza aqui o percurso do ator social durante sua trajetória, assim como o tratamento singular dispensado ao objeto patrimonial e à organização dos saberes. Apesquisa focaliza, então, mais precisamente, os processos de apropriação e de reflexividadeprovocados pela prática de curadoria compartilhada na documentação audiovisual dopatrimônio. Desta forma a tese aborda o regime de patrimonialização singular aqui descrito, talcomo ele se organiza em torno da produção contínua e compartilhada de uma memória social do grupo, cujo valor mediador nós destacamos. Finalmente, a pesquisa mostra como os dispositivos patrimoniais contemporâneos confrontam a fixação dos saberes e orquestram sua transmissão recriadora, segundo a ideia proposta de uma memória ativa.a