History of Slovenian Theatre and the Performing Arts Since 1867 Now Available in One Place
The Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI) has launched Oder, a new central online portal that, for the first time, brings together the entire heritage and contemporary production of the Slovenian performing arts in a single digital environment. Serving as a modern digital gateway, the portal integrates information on performances, artists, producers, extensive archival materials, and current stage productions, providing a comprehensive point of access for exploring Slovenian theatre and the performing arts.
Available at oder.slogi.si, the portal invites users to step onto the stage of Slovenian theatre history, trace its development, and discover the connections between its past and present. It brings together information on performances, artists, producers, photographic and other museum and archival visual materials, theatre reviews, and scholarly articles, while also highlighting current premieres. By interlinking existing databases, digitised materials, and newly created content, the portal offers users a more comprehensive insight into Slovenia's performing arts heritage and facilitates in-depth research. In addition to publicly accessible resources, registered users are granted access to digitised museum and archival materials for research, study, and educational purposes. The portal was developed as part of the PN3 eScenske project, within the framework of the national e-Kultura initiative.
Oder was developed by the Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI), building on the Institute's long-standing work in collecting, documenting, researching, and digitising Slovenia's performing arts heritage. The portal's key strength lies in bringing together resources that were previously accessible only through time-consuming visits to multiple collections and archives. It integrates existing databases and digitised museum and archival materials into a unified digital environment, while enriching them with new content and functionalities that make navigation more intuitive and research more comprehensive. At the same time, this mode of presentation contributes to the preservation of cultural heritage, as users can first consult digital surrogates rather than handling original documents.
"Performing art is ephemeral, existing primarily in the moment of performance. This is why documents, photographs, and reviews are invaluable in preserving our cultural memory. With Oder, we are bringing that memory into the twenty-first century. Digitisation not only opens these resources to the wider public, students, and researchers, but also helps protect precious original documents from physical wear and tear," said Dr. Gašper Troha, Director of the Slovenian Theatre Institute.
Two Main Content Sections: Slovenian Theatre Encyclopedia and Scene
The Oder portal is structured around two principal content sections. Slovenian Theatre Encyclopedia serves as the portal's research hub, bringing together interconnected databases on performances, artists, and producers, alongside scholarly articles, visual materials, and digital exhibitions. The second section, Scene, connects the portal with the contemporary performing arts scene. It features announcements of premieres, theatre reviews, interviews, commentaries, and other editorial content, complementing the portal's documentary and research functions with coverage of current productions. The portal also hosts a series of digital exhibitions, which present important theatre practitioners, performances, festivals, and landmark events in the history of Slovenian performing arts through contemporary digital formats. Two dedicated projects occupy a special place within the portal: Reviews and Slovene Drama in Translation. The former publishes reviews of productions by professional Slovenian theatre artists, with a particular focus on institutional theatres and leading independent producers. The latter provides access to translations of Slovenian dramatic texts, contributing to the international accessibility and recognition of Slovenian drama.
SLOGI's Digitised Collections
At the Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI), archival materials are being continuously digitised and will be progressively uploaded to the portal over the coming years. A significant component of Oder is formed by SLOGI's digitised collections. These include the Ichnoteque, which houses an extensive collection of theatre photographs, set designs, costume sketches, and other visual materials, and the Hemerotheca, which provides access to theatre reviews, newspaper articles, and other archival documents. Together with the Institute's systematically documented records of Slovenian performances dating back to 1867, when the Drama Society—the predecessor of the SNG Drama Ljubljana—was founded in Ljubljana, these collections constitute the foundation for research into the history of Slovenian theatre. Rather than replacing these collections, the portal interconnects and enhances them, enabling users to conduct research more quickly and efficiently. At the same time, by providing access to digitised materials, the portal contributes to the preservation and protection of the original items held in SLOGI's collections.
A Portal for Professionals and Theatre Enthusiasts Alike
The portal is intended for researchers, university students, secondary-school students, educators, theatre practitioners, producers, cultural institutions, and anyone interested in the Slovenian performing arts. Access to the portal is free of charge. In addition to publicly available content, registered users can access digitised museum and archival materials from the collections of the Slovenian Theatre Institute. Registration is quick and straightforward, granting users time-limited access to digitised photographs, documents, and other materials for research, study, and educational purposes, in accordance with the applicable copyright legislation. In this way, the portal combines the broadest possible public access to Slovenia's cultural heritage with the responsible protection of intellectual property rights, while enriching opportunities for research and scholarship.
Preserving Cultural Memory
Performing art exists primarily in the moment of its performance. For this reason, documents, photographs, reviews, and other archival sources play a vital role in preserving cultural memory. In addition to ensuring the long-term preservation and safeguarding of these materials, digitisation makes them more accessible to researchers, artists, students, and the wider public, while creating new opportunities for their use in research, education, artistic practice, and international collaboration.
The Oder portal marks an important step forward in improving the digital accessibility of Slovenia's performing arts heritage. By bringing together existing databases, digitised museum and archival collections, and newly developed content within a single research environment, it enhances access to knowledge, fosters research, and strengthens the visibility of Slovenian performing arts both nationally and internationally.
Oder: Part of the e-Kultura Project
The PN3 eScenske project, under which the Oder portal was developed, is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union – NextGenerationEU through the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The total value of the project is EUR 370,616. PN3 eScenske forms part of the broader e-Kultura project, which provides cultural professionals and the general public with digital access to Slovenian culture through the development of the new eKultura portal, the redesign of the Culture.si website, and the digital tools eJR, REMK, and eJKI. Together, these initiatives are creating a comprehensive digital ecosystem that presents Slovenian culture to domestic and international audiences while fostering connections between artists and cultural institutions. The project also brings together several national public institutions and agencies developing their own digital services for the digitisation of cultural heritage, including the National and University Library of Slovenia, the Museum of Modern Art, the Slovenian Theatre Institute, and the Slovenian Film Centre.
