10 6 The Fundación Federico Jorge Klemm held El Banquete II, the second edition of a performance series on the works in the foundation’s collection, in the framework of El cuerpo de una colección, the permanent exhibition of the foundation’s holdings. For the first edition, in 2018, Diego Bianchi, Marcelo Galindo, Mauro Guzmán, Pablo Katchadjian, Agustina Muñoz, Florencia Rodríguez Giles, Nancy Rojas, and Julián Sorter were invited to give guided performance-tours of the collection. The 2019 edition consisted of four presentations—performances, discussions, and readings—based on the scripts of the television show El banquete telemático, conceived and hosted by Federico Klemm from 1994 until the time of his death in 2002; the show was aired on Canal Arte (now Canal á). Both editions of the event and the exhibition of the permanent collection were curated by Federico Baeza and Guadalupe Chirotarrab. In the first event in this edition, choreographer, dancer, and singer Carlos Casella, with actor and singer Alejandra Radano and dancers Federico Fontán, Damián Malvacio, and Jonás Grassi, presented a performance that combined dance, live music, and a public reading. On the basis of an autobiographical narrative, the performance conjured the figure of Klemm and his Banquete telemático from an array of perspectives. In the edition’s second event, writer María Moreno, along with poet and performer Naty Menstrual, presented Federico Klemm a capella with the help of tenor Andrés Medus. Moreno later described the action as “a heretical mass where each sentence upheld Federico Klemm, recognizing all of his facets: Klemm the snob, Klemm the millionaire, Klemm the educator, Klemm the man of the people, Klemm the collector and artist. The work is a tribute in keeping with his exaggerated tone.” And, she added, “We exculpate him for the offense of having produced a Menemist aesthetic [in reference to the ENG
widely repudiated former president of Argentina, Carlos Menem]. He didn’t go shopping in Miami, he went to Sotheby´s. He was not for export,
he was an internationalist.” Naty Menstrual gave what Moreno described as a “guided tour that leads you astray” and Andrés Medus sang Federico’s favorite arias. The third event was a performance by Maricel Álvarez in which he recreated the “Cultura kitsch” episode of the television show, establishing a dialogue with Federico “outside of time,” the curators claimed. PhD Olumuyiwa E. C. Anwezor participated in the performance as “guest curator.” Like a ventriloquist in a strange latex mask, Olumuyiwa E. C. Anwezor mouthed the words of art critic Carlos Espartaco in the episode of El banquete telemático reproduced in video; the video’s image showed mostly never-beforeseen shots of Klemm listening to Espartaco. Martín Antuña, Emilio García Wehbi, and Andrés Reid collaborated on the performance. In Álvarez’s words, “This iconic television program of the nineties is seen today as a remarkable experiment in performance. It shows Federico’s powerful ability to pour forth much too much glamour and many too many ideas and theories, as if he were a ‘schoolteacher on the edge,’ as Ariel Schettini once wrote.” Álvarez underscored the importance of “restoring something of the over-thetop grammar to oppose the stiffness characteristic of the highly codified local art circuit.” In the series’ final event, Analía Couceyro and Daniel Link looked to the scripts of El banquete telemático’s episodes “Por amor al arte” and “Cultura kitsch” to develop a performance focused on Federico Klemm’s thinking on art and life. Photographer Sebastián Freire and actor and costume designer Lara Sol Gaudini collaborated on the work, which included the creation of a Ministry of Taste—with Federico Klemm De arriba hacia abajo / from top to bottom, as its honorary chair—that Ciclo de performances / Performances series gave out certificates of good or Carlos Casella con bailarines / with dancers; María Moreno; Maricel Álvarez; bad taste and all the gradients Daniel Link & Analía Couceyro in between—taste was one of en los diferentes episodios / in the different events of El Banquete II Klemm’s great obsessions. Ph: Gentileza de / Courtesy of Fundación Klemm