Godard Bumerang: Künstler zum Godardschen Konzeptualismus

This publication is the late result of a small symposium that took place at the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki in 2013 on the subject of time and space art. It presented research and analysis of conceptual traces in Godard's oeuvre and its relationship to contemporary art practices. Beyond the invited contributors to this symposium, the project expanded into a larger collection of writings by contemporary artists and curators on references, influences and (re)discoveries of Godard, centred around a particular phenomenon - what we call the "Godard Boomerang" - laying down conceptual strategies deeply rooted in 20th century art cinema and affecting the future practices of moving image art. Gareth James, one of the contributors, reminds us that contemporary art still lacks crucial pedagogy in this regard.

In his text he asks: "What skills would contemporary art have to possess in order to grasp the objective historical achievements of Jean-Luc Godard?" So why still Godard? A question we have often heard in the course of editing this book. And further: "Wouldn't this be the right time in history to pass the torch?" Most likely, there is no torch left to pass. If there is something to be passed on (a merit, a philosophy, an attitude), the questions still remain: To whom? To an individual? A collective? An entire movement?

The latter would fit much better in an era that has begun to successfully diversify and cross-reference contemporary thought, refusing to follow isolated key thinkers by demagnetising its rocky islands of ideology. Needless to say, current efforts to challenge gender and geopolitical dominances also complicate any attempt to simply 'return' to Godard. The recent string of power shifts, uprisings in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, migratory movements from war-torn North African countries and armed conflicts around the world have given rise to new moving image practices, many of which hark back to Godard's militant filmmaking period.

Letzteres wurde in den letzten Jahren wiederentdeckt und gründlicher als je zuvor analysiert. Fast ein Drittel der Beiträge in diesem Buch stehen im Einklang mit diesen Bemühungen. Die meisten Texte wurden in der Zeit verfasst, kurz bevor Godard sich den genauen Themen der oben genannten Forschung zuwandte. Seine jüngsten Werke, Adieu Au Language und insbesondere Le Livre d' Images, greifen genau Themen seiner Zeit des Militanten Kinos auf. Eine deutliche Kluft zwischen zwei gegensätzlichen Gruppen der Godard-Forschung ist daher deutlicher geworden – diejenigen, die Godards narratives Filmemachen lobten, und diejenigen, die sich ausschließlich für seine Dokumentarfilme und Collage-Essayfilme interessierten.

However, this collection of writings belongs to neither of them. The authors work from the perspective of artists who always relate the given themes to their own practice. This reflection by a separate faculty allows for triangulation by entering into further dialogues with other others, in this case: Edward Said, Jorge Luis Borges, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Hito Steyerl, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, FEMEN, Birgit Hein , Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen, Kaja Silverman and Harun Farocki.