RELAÇÕES PÚBLICAS & MARKETING DIGITAIS

Hundreds of Warhol’s films, many never before seen by the public, will be converted to digital format through a new partnership announced by The Warhol, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and MPC, a global leader in VFX (visual effects) and a Technicolor company.

The project will once again make accessible approximately 500 titles that Warhol made between 1963 and 1972, but withdrew from circulation more than 40 years ago.  Nearly 1,000 rolls of original 16mm film will be digitally scanned, frame by frame, and converted into high resolution (2K) images.  The scanning, which will begin in August 2014, will take several years to complete as the process is delicate. However, once completely digitized, the entire collection of Warhol films will be available for public screening.

The films themselves have been housed, conserved, and in some cases exhibited at MoMA since the early 1990s as part of the museum’s collection of some 22,000 films, and are among the most requested works in MoMA’s Circulating Film Library.

 Digitizing these films will amplify both museums’ opportunities in the areas of public programming, lending to other institutions for public screenings, accessibility to scholars, and use in special presentations and performances such as those currently being produced by The Warhol. 

The partnership brings together a preeminent museum for modern art, a global leader in digital VFX, and the world’s most comprehensive single-artist museum. “The Warhol’s mission is to be the global keeper of his legacy.  Making it possible for curators, scholars, and the public to see Warhol’s total output as a filmmaker for the first time is a major step toward achieving our goals.  These films stand alongside Warhol’s greatest works and are as significant as his paintings,” said Eric Shiner, director of The Warhol.

“This remarkable collaboration represents the largest effort to digitize work of a single artist in MoMA’s collection,” said Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at MoMA. “The results will allow us to maintain our custodial responsibility for the long term analog preservation of Andy Warhol’s films, and will help provide broader access to them for research and theatrical exhibition.”

MPC, an Oscar-winning digital VFX studio renowned for creating spectacular visuals for blockbuster films and award-winning advertising campaigns, will provide the scanning and artistic restoration to create new digital masters that retain the original character of the films. Justin Brukman, managing director of MPC NYC said: “Today our work and creative expertise covers a broad spectrum of media sectors and platforms. In recent years MPC has collaborated with a growing number of distinguished art institutions and artists and working with The Warhol and MoMA is a wonderful opportunity. The digitization of these films is just the first phase of this project and we are all excited about exploring future opportunities together.”

To digitize the Warhol film collection MPC partnered with Adstream, a global provider of digital asset management solutions. This solution provides The Warhol and MoMA with an essential service, giving them the ability to manage and share the digital film assets online from one platform anywhere around the world.

“We were looking for a technology partner that understood the importance of Warhol films,” added Patrick Moore, The Warhol’s deputy director and adjunct curator of the project.  “These films warrant the same care as the most valuable canvases in our collection.  As The Warhol celebrates its 20th-anniversary year, it is critical that we honor Warhol’s films as a major product of his legacy.”

Pictured: Andy Warhol. Nico/Antoine. 1966. ©2014 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved