Monday September 14 – Thursday September 24, 10:30pm PT
Jonas Mekas
TAPES
Live introduction on Monday September 14, 7:30pm ET
Live closing discussion/Q&A on Monday September 21, 7:30pm ET
Microscope is very pleased to launch its new season of events and 10th anniversary celebration week with an online screening of a selection of unedited and never-before-seen videotapes recorded by Jonas Mekas, the visionary artist, filmmaker, poet, critic, and founder of Anthology Film Archives in New York, who left this planet — upon which he spent his life searching for “fragments of paradise” — in January 2019 at the age of 96.
The program features nine complete, unedited video tapes ranging from approximately 40 to 120 minutes selected from Jonas Mekas’ extensive video archive and presented from start to finish as originally recorded. The tapes in the program consist of some of Mekas’ earliest cassettes from the 1990s not long after he first began working with video — shooting on analog Hi8, frequently at Anthology Film Archives, which had recently reopened at its 2nd street location — as well as more recent mini-DV tapes from 2010s during which in addition to his prolific artistic work, he released several books and worked tirelessly to raise funds for Anthology’s future library.
The contents of the tapes have not been previously seen in their entirety. The footage provides rare insight into aspects of Mekas’ video-making practice, as well as his activities, thoughts, dreams, and concerns, especially during the later years of his life. In some cases, the footage flows like an actual work by Mekas, while at other times the process behind the work is in the forefront as he prepares title cards, voice overs, and reshoots scenes.
Scenes that caught our attention in the selection process include: a walk in Linz, Austria with filmmaker Peter Kubelka who revisits the location of a well-known scene from his first film; a Brooklyn Nets basketball game at the Barclays Center; performances at the 1994 SeOUL NYmAX and FLUXFEST and a related dinner with Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono and Vytautas Landsbergis; a last visit to the two trees Mekas illegally planted with Fluxus founder George Maciunas in the 60s outside of 80 Wooster Street, the home of the Filmmakers’ Cinematheque that Mekas founded; a stop during his trip to Documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany at the building Mekas lived in as a displaced person following World War II; a phone conversation during which he explains how he ended up as the film instructor for the children of Jackie Kennedy Onassis; film screenings by Peter Hutton, Jackie Raynal, Julius Ziz, and Stom Sogo, among others.
More personal footage includes Mekas’ recordings of his quiet recovery from a life-threatening skin melanoma, of historical news stories shot while watching TV; of snow storms and more snow storms; and of singing, drinking and other time spent with family, friends and others.
The tapes will be viewable following an introduction to the event on September 14th through the closing discussion on Monday September 21st. The online screening will be introduced live by Elle Burchill and Andrea Monti at 7:30pm ET. The closing discussion will be open to questions by the audience. Participants include the artist’s son Sebastian Mekas and others TBA.
TO WATCH:
A “Watch Now” button will become visible on this page on Monday September 14, at 7pm ET. Passes for viewing give full access to the video program and live chat.
General admission $8 (Valid through Monday September 21, 10:30pm PT)Member admission $6 (Valid through Monday September 21, 10:30pm PT)
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JONAS MEKAS (1922, Semeniškiai, Lithuania – 2019, Brooklyn, NY) Mekas was brought to the US along with his brother Adolfas in 1949 by the UN Refugee Organization. Within weeks, Mekas borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. Mekas is now considered among the most influential makers of avant-garde film and a master of the diaristic form.
His films, installations and other artworks have been screened and exhibited regularly in the US and internationally. Institutional solo exhibitions and retrospectives of his works have appeared at PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA, Queens; Serpentine Gallery, London, UK; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Documenta, Kassel, Germany; Stadtmuseum, Wiesbaden; Germany; Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) Karlsruhe, Germany; The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo (MUAC), Mexico City, Mexico; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul, South Korea, and the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy among others. His work has also exhibited at Apalazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy; James Fuentes Gallery, New York; Krinzinger Projekte Vienna; and Galerie Du Jour, Paris, France, among others. Jonas Mekas will be the subject of a career survey at the Jewish Museum, New York in early 2022.
Mekas published more than 20 books of prose and poetry, which have been translated into over 12 languages. He was co-founder of the influential Film Culture magazine and wrote his “Movie Journal” column at the Village Voice for 20 years. He also founded the Film-Makers’ Cooperative in 1962, and in 1964 the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives. Both are still in existence today.
Special thanks to Sebastian Mekas and the Jonas Mekas Studio
Introduction
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Microscope Gallery Event Series 2020 is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).