Artavazd Pelechian

He created most of his body of work in Moscow between 1964 and 1993, and was not known in Europe until much later in his career. His films inspired French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who became an advocate for his oeuvre. Over the course of almost three decades, Peleshyan created nine unique films from within the Soviet bloc. Archival images as well as ones shot by the artist were reworked and edited together according to a technique he refers to as “remote montage”. The result is a set of veritable cinematic poems that defy classical definitions of both fiction and documentary.

The Fondation Cartier has presented his films in several international exhibitions. It accorded him his first solo exhibition in France in 2020: La Nature. The occasion was commemorated with the premiere of his eponymous film, which explores the relation of humanity with the natural world. Commissioned in 2005 by the Fondation Cartier and the ZKM Filminstitut in Karlsruhe, Germany, the film is the result of fifteen years of work by an artist whose filmography is as rare as it is celebrated. In 2022, as part of the Mondo Reale exhibition, La Nature was screened in Italy for the first time. Again in 2024–2025, in Il Nostro Tempo, CinéFondationCartier at the Milan Triennale, Peleshyan's films Notre Siècle (1982) and La Vie (1993) were presented, shedding new light on Peleshyan's highly individual approach to cinematography.