After two years of intense preservation and digitization work, the Klem Foundation presented the digital platform that will allow viewing on demand the 232 television programs of the Telematic Banquetwhich were made by the patron, collector and artist Frederick Klemmwith the aim of bringing art to the general public between 1994 and 2002.
From the foundation they guard their works and carry out activities such as the annual Prize, but both the collection and the television programs and the documentary collection constitute a legacy that over time will be destined for the State, that is why the idea of carrying out a digitization program of the audiovisual material of those 1,000 units of material stored analogically on Betacam, mini-dvs or vhs cassettes, which exceed the 28-minute “Banquets” that were broadcast by the Canal á cable signal.
How was the process of preservation and digitization
With an investment of one million pesos by Fundación Santander, through Patronage of the City of Buenos Aires, and the same amount by the Foundation itself, created in 1995, the web platform was presented that invites you to view the didactic programs on contemporary art promoted by Klemm.
He preservation and digitization projectwhich began to be thought of in 2015-2016 together with the broadest of the entire legacy, was in charge of the specialist in collection management Cintia Mezza, and required more than two years of work in partnership with the team from the “Pablo Cinema Museum”. Ducrós Hicken”, to protect the 232 TV programs of the mythical Telematic Banquet.
“It is a platform that makes documents available and facilitates access, both for the curious, melancholic or researchers”, indicates Mezza, for whom time will define the demand and the needs of the platform that already has “a lot of benefits”, and “if the response is good, we will be able to continue investing”, otherwise this would be fine, details .
Who was Federico Klemm?
Lover of opera and Buenos Aires nightlife, artist, collector, patron and promoter of young Argentine artists and a great disseminator of art, Frederick Klemm (1942-2002) was very clear about the didactic value that the programs allowed, in addition to a very clear conception of the “spectacularization of art” as Fernando Ezpeleta, a member of the Foundation, pointed out.
“For a few years the LGTB culture has been making an impressive move in defense of their rights and their freedom. The figure of Federico is having a very important revaluation, from that place to a large extent, and in turn, the Foundation with the projects, with the Klemm Prize, which continues to attract a lot of young culture, it began to have a very important movement,” explains Mezza.
“I was aware of the service provided by the Cinema Museum but they did not yet have the equipment. Between one thing and another we got to 2017-2018, we began to do a visa for the cassettes, different agents joined the team, and to see which were the final programs broadcast and which were versions or raw. Of some programs there are two versions that Federico projected in 1994 and another in 1998 of the same theme”, he exemplifies.
In this graphic sense: “There are topics like Robert Mapplethorpe’s, which interested him a lot, so there are two programs plus a reversal or, as in the case of Andy Warhol, with three on pop, Warhol, Di Tella, topics that interested him study and learn.”
How to watch Federico Klemm’s Telematic Banquet again
The Telematic Banquet web platform, which can be accessed from www.fundacionfjklemm.org/ by selecting the homonymous link, currently has 20 emblematic programs already available, to which the rest will be added. Each chapter has information on the topics it addresses, the year of issue, who participates, and the detail of the segments that make it up, in addition to the music, the information provided by the technical sheet, and access to a trailer to later request the permission to view for 48 hours.
On the other hand, what is interesting about digitized material that cannot be freely exhibited due to copyright and copyright issues, is that it is accompanied by documentation such as the scripts that Klemm read and prepared, information about the works in the collection, or recorded classes on the chosen theme, something that according to Mezza will grow in this virtual space as related and freely accessible content.
The “very intuitive” platform allows you to search by topic, browse programs or search by topic and author, for example.
However, it is an audiovisual material that was not remastered, because that implied talking about higher costs, they pointed out during the presentation about a free service that takes about 24 hours, something that they also hope to automate to speed up response times for access to the requested material.
Taking advantage of the work, during these months the Film Museum will screen some episodes of Banquets as part of a public program.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
