FRANKFURT.- By seating works from its collection “on the couch”, Frankfurt’s Städel Museum has produced a completely new web film format. Starting immediately, “Talk im Rahmen” (“Talk in Framework”) is available on the Städel Museum’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/staedelmuseum). As entertaining as it is informative and innovative, the new film series avails itself of the classical TV talk show format. The well-known TV host Gert Scobel (3sat) discusses selected topics with guests at the Städel. What makes this talk show different is: the studio guests are artworks from all areas of the museum’s collection. In approximately ten-minute episodes, “Old Masters” engage in heated discussion with works of modern and contemporary art. Voice-over artists lend the works fictive personalities and distinctive voices. The series parodies talk show clichés such as the classical studio with the water glass for the host and conservative furniture for the guests, or the stereotypical point-of view shots that follow the conversation. The “Talk in Rahmen” (“Talk in Framework”) guests are introduced in short film clips in which the audience makes their acquaintance and learns who created them when and under what circumstances. By way of this information, but also the guests’ pointedly formulated remarks, the viewer learns about key aspects of all the participating artworks in a completely unconventional, innovative and entertaining manner.

In every episode, three paintings from various eras have been invited to talk about a topic they share – and often disagree on. The subject of emancipation, for example, is discussed by Lucas Cranach’s Venus (1532) as a “femme fatale” who makes deliberate use of her charms to reach her goals, Ottilie W. Roederstein’s Self-Portrait with Folded Arms (1926) as a work by a self-confident artist who knew how to hold her ground in the male-dominated art world of her time, and Carl Spitzweg’s The Widower (1844), who doesn’t think much of Roederstein’s plea for strong women. In this episode, Sonja Deutsch – British actress Helen Mirren’s ‘German voice’ – speaks the part of Ottilie W. Roederstein’s self-portrait.

The new web film format was produced by the Städel Museum and Readymade-Films of Berlin within the context of the Frankfurt museum’s digital expansion of its education and mediation programme. The idea behind “Talk im Rahmen” (“Talk in Framework”) is based on the fundamental principle of the Städel’s digital collection (www.digitalesammlung.staedelmuseum.de). On this comprehensive digital exhibit platform, works from all areas of the museum’s collection are likewise interlinked and interrelated across the centuries with the aid of various tags.

“Our new web film series ‘Talk im Rahmen’ (‘Talk in Framework’) is a fascinating new and completely unprecedented educational, entertainment and mediation format. Artworks that talk about the major issues of our time – that makes for an innovative, surprising and playful approach to the works in the Städel collection. Even more importantly, though, in a whole new way it brings out the controversial themes addressed by the works, and their continued relevance for us today. ‘Talk im Rahmen’ (‘Talk in Framework’) is a further fundamental element of our comprehensive digital museum-education initiative and, offered as a YouTube format, will appeal to entirely new target groups in addition to our already existing public”, explains Städel Museum director Max Hollein.

Talking about his experience during the show’s shooting, host Gert Scobel comments: The ‘Talk im Rahmen’ (‘Talk in Framework’) project presented me with completely new challenges in my role as talk show host. Imagine you had to conduct an animated, controversial discussion with someone who simply didn’t answer and just sat there mutely. What’s worse, that person is not a person at all but a painting. Together, the film series’ producers and I have embarked on an exciting filmic experiment. We’ll find out from the public response whether or not it’s a success, and I can hardly wait. My hope is that this innovative new art format will be able to convey to its audience something of the experience of spending a long time in a room with the original paintings and actually trying to converse with them, something of the inimitable aura of an original.”

The Städel’s digital expansion
The production of the new web film format is embedded in the Städel Museum’s digital expansion programme. The Städel, Germany’s oldest museum foundation, is taking its 200th birthday this year as an occasion for a fundamental redefinition of its diverse educational programme as well as the museum visitor’s experience. Against the background of the increasing digitalization of everyday life, the expansion of its educational responsibility into the digital realm is a key concern for the Frankfurt museum. Within the context of this digital expansion, one component is the substantial development of the Städel’s web film programme. In addition to already established formats such as classical exhibition films on special exhibitions, films about artists represented in the Städel collection, and event documentations, the museum is presently also producing additional formats to be released on Städel communication channels as well as in the Städel Digital Collection.

The host
Gert Scobel (b. Aachen 1959) leads the way through the format in the role of host. From 1995 to 2007, Scobel hosted the 3sat programme “Kulturzeit”. Since April 2008 he has presented “scobel”, which is broadcast weekly on 3sat. Having already been nominated for the Adolf Grimme Prize in 1999 and 2001, in 2005 he was awarded that distinction for his performance as host of “Kulturzeit” and “delta” and elected culture journalist of the year” by “Medium Magazin”.