In 1987 the Vlaams Theater Instituut (VTi) was born, as a result of the need to support and identify the ambitions of a new generation of performing artists in Flanders and Brussels, to document and investigate the context of this turbulent but artistically exceptional period, and to develop appropriate policy instruments for this burgeoning practice. Twenty years on, and the artistic and social context has changed radically. Initiatives that were played out on the fringes ‘back then’ we now see right at the centre of things. Today the need to keep documenting, investigating and reflecting is just as relevant as it was in those days. Moreover, the VTi can now explore the value of 20 years of metadata creation in new ways.