Microscope is very pleased to present a rare screening of video works by Jonas Mekas, in honor of and as a tribute to the legendary filmmaker, poet, artist, critic, and founder of Anthology Film Archives, among other institutions, who died a year ago on January 23rd at the age of 96.
The night marks the American debut of "From the daries of a cinema maniac", a roughly hour-long video that combines a series of diarist portraits of film luminaries from New York and abroad - such as Agnes Varda, Béla Tarr, Harmony Korrine, Jerome Hiler, Ken Jacobs, MM Serra, Peter Kubelka, and Susan Sontag — with other moments from the life of the filmmaker himself including a recent reading of his manifesto “Cinema is Not 100 Years Old.”
The work will be preceded by two short videos “Made in the U.S.A.” (2010) and “When," a 16mm film to video transfer (1968/2005). The former appeared in Microscope’s inaugural exhibition “Independence” in 2010 and the latter in the exhibition “Independence Returns,” which launched the gallery’s 2011 season.
Jonas we miss you! Keep Dancing, Keep Singing!
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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 works are shown regularly in the US and internationally including solo exhibitions at Serpentine Gallery, London; Stadtmuseum, Wiesbaden; Centre Pompidou, Paris; James Fuentes gallery, NY; DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague; MUAC, Mexico City; Krinzinger Projekte Vienna; National Museum of Art, Washington, DC. Mekas’ works have previously exhibited at Moderna Museet, Stockholm; PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA,Queens; Documenta, Kassel, Galerie Du Jour, Paris; Venice Biennale, Venice; and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, among many others.
Mekas has also 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.
Program:
From the diaries of a cinema maniac
By Jonas Mekas, video, 2017, 56 minutes 41 seconds
Scenes from the life and work of independent film-makers. Includes Douglas Gordon, Peter Hutton, Ken Jacobs, Alexander Kluge, Harmony Korine, Peter Kubelka, MM Serra, Susan Sontag, Béla Tarr, Agnes Varda, and more.
Made in U.S.A.
By Jonas Mekas, video, 2010, 2 minutes 45 seconds
When
By Jonas Mekas, 16mm film transfer to video, color, silent, 1968/2005, 2 minute 23 seconds
A film made in 1968. With appearance by the filmmaker Robert Kramer.