The exhibition, Jonas Mekas: let me dream utopias continues one of the last proposals for a project by poet, artist and filmmaker Jonas Mekas. This was a deeply personal project for which Mekas wanted to focus on poetry and its importance to his artistic work and life. The exhibition includes a number of Mekas’ previously unpublished poems taken from over 60 years of his life, and incorporates his films, as well as sound pieces selected by the artist. In the spirit of Mekas’ conviviality, for five weeks the exhibition space will act as a host for discussions, performances, screenings, readings and public and educational programmes. These activities and the exhibition’s architecture will frame and contextualise the project’s many ideas and themes, exploring notions of poetic freedom, nostalgia and the idyll in the artist’s work, while also demonstrating the continuing vitality of Mekas’ practice today.
Jonas Mekas (1922 – 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet and artist. Over twenty books of his prose and poetry have been published, several of which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His work has been exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery (London), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), MoMA PS1 (New York), the Museum Ludwig (Cologne), the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), Documenta 14 (Kassel) and the 51st Venice Biennale, among others. Mekas is a recipient of several awards, including the Venice Film Festival’s Grand Prize (Documentary) awarded for his film, The Brig (1964), the Lithuanian National Award (1995) and a special mention at the 51st Venice Biennial.
Exhibition and programme curators: Justė Jonutytė, Kotryna Markevičiūtė, Yates Norton
Exhibition Architecture: Ona Lozuraitytė and Petras Išora
Exhibition Coordinator: Miglė Kolinytė
Producer: Rupert, Vilnius
Programme participants and contributors: Vyt Bakaitis, Lukas Brašiškis, Ramūnas Čičelis, Leonas Čiudaras, Viktorija Damerell and Gailė Griciūtė, Violeta Davoliūtė, Vaiva Grainytė, Brenda Iijima, Monika Kalinauskaitė, Aušra Kaziliūnaitė, Dalia Kėželienė, Valentinas Klimašauskas, Žygimantas Kudirka, Laima Kreivytė, Erik Martinson, Deimantas Narkevičius, Dalius Naujo, Raha Raissnia, Jonathon Haffner and the Dabar Mes Esam Čia Choras (Lina Saveikytė, Milda Laužikaitė, Agota Zdanavičiūtė, Rūta Barisaitė, Kamilė Gudmonaitė, Laima Griciūtė, Paulina Simutytė, Paulina Jankauskaitė, Aistė Jančiūtė, Ainė Bunikytė, Gintarė Martinaitytė, Inga Šepetkaitė, Joana Daunytė, Julija Jarutytė, Živilė Razinkovienė, Ingula Rinkevičienė, Gabija Stulgytė, Paula Kovaliova, Dorotė Girskienė), Sara Poisson, Joseph Pomp, Paulina Eglė Pukytė, Herb Shellenberger, Anastasia Sosunova, Aurimas Švedas, Evaldas Timukas, Eugenijus Varkalis, Rita Venskūnienė.
Jonas Mekas: let me dream utopias
21 June – 21 July, 2019
Rupert, Vilnius
Exhibition installation photos by Andrej Vasilenko, performance documentation by Saulius Ziura.
