This is the improvisation knowledge base of WhatIIIF? which is meant as a work-in-progress open source library of interdisciplinary improvisation principles.
The utopian idea is to gather and describe all essential aspects of improvisation performance. Can we create a vocabulary that is not linked to a specific discipline, and which can be used to talk about improvisation in any context?
Use the tree menu in the above right corner or click on one of the words/images below to dive into this never-complete library.
Or scroll down to read first more about the initiative and how to get involved…
Click on any of the above pictures to enter. Or alternatively, use the sorted tree menu below to browse through the content that has already been brought together.
What IIIF? Gatherings/FEstivals
Using and working on this Knowledge Base is open to everyone, but we develop it specifically with the yearly open invitation to any improvisers gathering around WhatIIIF? – the International Interdisciplinary Improvisation Festival
We had five editions until now:
2017 in Amsterdam, 2018 in London, 2019 in Gothenborg, 2020 (and still ongoing) the online Nowhere and Everywhere festival, and then the most recent, October 2021 in Berlin.
the images above are from the WhatIIIF Berlin 2021 gathering, foto and edit: Deniza Dikova
The festival is intended as the real-world counterpart of this Knowledge Base and vice-versa; a place where improvisation practitioners meet with each other to address the – maybe impossible – question:
“How can we document improvisation and reflect on improvisation practices in an interdisciplinary context?”
More information about the WhatIIIF? festivals/gatherings? – click here
Please contribute to this Knowledge Base if you feel you can add things from your own practice!
We can give you access to create new pages that link to existing ones. You can also contribute by simply writing a comment.
If there is anything you read here that you cannot agree to, please provide us with an alternative text that includes your understanding of that aspect of improvisation. The idea is that we gather all relevant information on improvisation methods and concepts, and it is not a problem if it will contain various visions of different people next to each other.
Also about structuring this Knowledge Base in a different way, all feedback and comments are welcome.
You can contact us about anything via the contact page.
Have fun reading and contributing!
Interdisciplinary Instant Composition 
Greetings from European Intuitive Music Conference! We work on the same thing… meeting other improvisors sets a lot of energy free…
… and Greetings from bibliographic research into improvisation…