Defining the documentary in сontemporary artistic practices. On the example of the film “Letters to Max” by Eric Baudelaire

Abstract

Document has become one of the key tools of modern artists when working with history and memory. The search for different ways of representing the past leads artists to explore their own family and personal archives as well as museums and historical archives. Thus, chronicles, family photos and letters found on flea markets turn into a material for contemporary artists. Within the artistic work documents get transformed, so the things that are not relevant for historians can become important for artists. Questions arise: what happens to documentary material in the space of contemporary art? What are the boundaries of documentary as part of artistic practice? In what situation does a document lose its status, and when a material unimportant for historians can be transformed into important source for exhibitions? Many artists address these questions when working with memory and history.

This article focuses on the film “Letters to Max” by French artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire based on the correspondence with the former minister of Abkhazia Maxim Gvinjia. The specifics of Baudelaire’s work is in the juxtaposition of different types of documents: letters that Baudelaire and Gvinjia wrote to each other and video that Baudelaire shot during his travel to Abkhazia. Connection between different materials allows us to see how different dimensions of representation of the past correlate with each other.