The premiere of Artavazd Peleshyan’s film “Nature” took place at “Moscow” cinema in summer 2022.

“Nature” was produced thanks to the cooperation between Peleshyan and the
Fondation Cartier, who have developed a strong bond over the years. A few years ago, Grazia Quaroni, Director of Collections at Fondation Cartier, told Mediamax about this cooperation.

She particularly said:

“Artavazd Peleshyan’s films are unique in their kind. Thanks to an indescribable synthesis they cross cinematic boundaries and become a work of art that can be freely exhibited in museums. The collection of the Fondation Cartier is diverse and vibrant, exploring every field of creation, and the film is certainly a key part of it.”

This is how Peleshyan himself once described his work:

“I am not interested in connecting the footages with each other, rather I am interested in separating them, putting them away. Footages placed away from each other are talking to each other better, and not only to each other but also to all the images inserted between them. This is the mechanism. There are mistakes in my films, this is why they live longer.”

A few years ago, I read the book Just Kids by American singer and poet Patti Smith, which tells the story of Patti and her boyfriend’s teenage years. It’s a very honest, sincere, and easy-to-read book (I read it in Russian).


Patti Smith and Artavazd Peleshyan in 2014

Why did I remember Patti Smith? In July 2014, the premiere of “Swans (a tribute to Peleshyan)” musical composition by Patti Smith was held at the Fondation Cartier. While composing the work, Patti Smith was inspired by Artavazd Peleshyan’s Inhabitants movie shot in 1970.

In March 2024, I had a meeting with Roman Kantor, the screenwriter of “The Master and Margarita.” He told me that in 2012, Patti Smith recorded an album called Banga, named after Pontius Pilate’s dog. I listened to the album and discovered that one of the songs was dedicated to Andrei Tarkovsky.



A month later, we recorded “Red Thread” with Roman, during which he said something interesting:

“That’s the meaning of art. There’s a unique ‘cross-pollination’ that brings together people from different fields of art. I think it is in those moments that art gains its true power and influence.”

Ara Tadevosyan is the director of Mediamax.