New York's Museum of Modern Art announced a partnership this week with the Andy Warhol Museum to release to the public hundreds of Andy Warhol films, including never-before-seen projects.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) said it will work with both the Andy Warhol Museum and the visual-effects company MPC to digitize approximately 500 films Warhol created between 1963 and 1971. MPC has used its services for the movies "Life of Pi" and "Prometheus."
MPC recently partnered with the Andy Warhol Museum to restore 15 movies from the artist for Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival and UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance.
The new project will consist of taking more than a thousand rolls of 16mm films shot by Warhol and individually scanning them and turning them into a high-resolution 2K format.
The project will begin this month, but will take years to complete. Eventually, the films will be open to the public. The films include rarely seen and some never-before-seen work from the iconic artist.
MoMA said digitizing the 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."
The films include short screen tests and longer pieces such as "The Chelsea Girls" that is more than three hours long. Warhol filmed in his Factory study, making intimate silent films such as "Sleep," which features artist John Giorno sleeping, and "Empire," that features shots of the Empire State Building's lights flickering on and off.
This is not the first time the works of Warhol has been restored. Students working with digital artist Cory Arcangel successfully digitized artworks Warhol made for the Amiga 1000 computer in 1985.
