The Städel Museum ventures a foray into art education via a tête à tête with the YouTube generation
With the new web film project “Talk im Rahmen”, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt is bringing icons of art history into the conversation. And in a double sense. On the one hand, this format creates an informal connection to a net-savvy and younger target group via the museum’s own YouTube channel. On the other hand, each film provides the paintings from the museum collection with their own voice: dubbing actors stage an imaginary exchange of blows between the works of art on current topics such as emancipation or communication strategies on the Internet. The discussion situation is deliberately based on the classic television format of the talk show.
Each picture has its own fixed place on the comfortable sofa sets, and the obligatory glass of water on the side table is of course also a must. While the icons in question – for example the portrait of Simon George of Cornwall by Hans Holbein the Younger (around 1535-1540) or the Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1532) – defend their points of view against works from more recent eras, the well-known 3sat presenter Gert Scobel uses his wit, charm and professional empathy to bring the threads of the conversation together into a well-rounded discussion.
However, the question arises as to what effects the transportation, installation and lighting conditions in a film studio have on the paintings. According to the museum, the selection of the works as well as the securing on the film set was “always carried out in very close consultation with the Städel’s restoration department”. The state of preservation of the works therefore determined their appearance in the studio from the outset. For example, photographs or drawings on paper were excluded from the web film project, and the size of the works was also a decisive factor.
In addition, the studio was specially constructed for the tête à tête of the art icons. The Berlin production company Readymade-Films also consulted with the museum’s conservators. The result was a scaffolding construction invisible to the camera, on which the pictures were secured to the regular suspensions by wire ropes. In addition, special LED lights were used to illuminate the “talk in the frame” with a maximum brightness of 280 to 300 LUX.
Further projects are already on the Städel Museum’s agenda, which are aimed at digitally expanding the collection. In addition to its range of digital formats for special exhibitions, the “Education and Communication” department is discussing a further expansion of film productions. From spring 2016, for example, a free online course with a program of “explanatory videos, playful learning formats, text sections and an extensive timeline on the various trends, artists, historical events and key works of modern art from 1750 to the present day” will be available, explains the Städel press office. A significant step into the digital future: Max Hollein, the director of the museum, also sees the claim of this mediation initiative as “a completely new way of making the explosive themes and continuing relevance of these images evident for us today”.
Read more about the Städel Museum’s digital mediation strategy in RESTAURO 08/2015.
Click here for a current digitorial by the Städel as part of the current exhibition “Dialogue of Masterpieces”.