JONAS MEKAS
To new york with love
April 14 - May 07, 2022
To New York With Love - Jonas Mekas
April 14 - May 07, 2022
Vernissage de l'exposition & Lancement de I Seem To Live Vol.2 1969-2011, The New York Diaries, Spector Books
Jeudi 14 Avril 18h - 22h
En présence de Sebastian Mekas et Pip Chodorov
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Opening of the exhibition & Book launch of I Seem To Live Vol.2 by Spector Books
Thursday April 14th 6pm - 10pm
Sebastian Mekas et Pip Chodorov will be present
To New York With Love,
When in 1949, after years of wars, forced labor camps and displaced persons camps I landed in New York, I was split in one thousand pieces. It was New York that saved my sanity, it was New York that helped me to begin to put myself together again. Its people, its streets, its sounds, its energy, its poetry engulfed me, embraced me, and I, thirsty and famished for it all, gave myself to it all, with no resistance. These casual images are my love letter to New York.
- Jonas Mekas
To New York With Love,
Lorsqu’en 1949, après des années de guerres, de camps de travaux forcés et de camps de personnes déplacées, j’ai atterri à New York, j’étais brisé en mille morceaux. C’est New York qui a sauvé ma santé mentale, c’est New York qui m’a aidé à commencer à me reconstruire. Ses habitants, ses rues, ses sons, son énergie, sa poésie m’ont englouti, m’ont embrassé, et moi, assoiffé et affamé de tout ça, je me suis donné à tout ça, sans résistance. Ces images désinvoltes sont ma lettre d’amour à New York.
- Jonas Mekas
Programmed to celebrate the centennial of Jonas Mekas, Jonas Mekas 100!, the exhibition To New York With Love presents 21 offset lithographs and the screening of the film As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses Of Beauty, 2000, 288 min by Jonas Mekas.
Programmée à l’occasion de la célébration du centenaire de Jonas Mekas, Jonas Mekas 100!, l’exposition To New York With Love présente 21 lithographies offset et la diffusion du film As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses Of Beauty, 2000, 288 min de Jonas Mekas.
Jonas Mekas was invited to the Neiman Center in 2009 to produce a portfolio of images excerpted from Walden (Diaries, Notes, and Sketches) his 1969 experimental film, which chronicles scenes from his daily life as well as additional stills of his beloved New York City.
The 21 offset lithographs, To New York With Love, is a sensitive tribute to the city, a gift of poetic reminiscences to its viewers. Mekas’s images - which range from seemingly banal pictures of teens playing in Central Park to Rockefeller Center’s bedazzled Christmas tree - retain the compositional form of the film strip.
Each print depicts three frames of film running vertically to highlight the subject’s subtly changing movements while sprocket holes and voiceprints occupy either side of the image.
The voiceprint serves to remind the viewer of the sound once associated with the now static image.
En 2009, Jonas Mekas a été invité au Neiman Center pour produire un portfolio d'images extraites de Walden (Diaries, Notes, and Sketches), son film expérimental de 1968,
qui relate des scènes de sa vie quotidienne ainsi que des images supplémentaires de New York, sa ville bien aimée.
Les 21 lithographies offset, To New York With Love, sont un hommage sensible à la ville, un cadeau de réminiscences poétiques à ses spectateurs.
Les images de Mekas conservent la forme de composition de la pellicule - allant des photos apparemment banales d'adolescents jouant dans Central Park jusqu'à l'arbre de Noël éblouissant du Rockefeller Center.
Chaque tirage représente trois images de film qui défilent verticalement pour souligner les mouvements subtilement changeants du sujet, tandis que des trous de pignon
et des empreintes vocales occupent chaque côté de l'image.
L'empreinte vocale sert à rappeler au spectateur le son autrefois associé à l'image désormais statique.
Jonas Mekas
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses Of Beauty
2000
288’
Avec Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, Jane Brakhage, Hollis Frampton.
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty shows the emotions, the subtle sensations, the everyday joys as I perceived them in the voices, in the faces, in the small daily activities of people I met, observed, and lived with... Things that I have recorded for years, as opposed to the spectacular, entertaining, sensational and dramatic activities that dominate much of contemporary cinema.
For all that, this film is not conceived as a documentary. It follows a tradition established by modern poet filmmakers. I am interested in intensifying the fleeting moments of reality, filming and structuring my material in a personal way.
Particular importance was given to color, movement, rhythm and structure, essential elements in my research.
- Jonas Mekas
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty montre les émotions, les sensations subtiles, les joies quotidiennes telles que je les ai perçues dans les voix, dans les visages, dans les petites activités journalières des gens que j'ai rencontrés, observés, et avec qui j'ai vécu... Des choses que j'ai enregistrées pendant des années, à l'opposé des activités spectaculaires, divertissantes, sensationnelles et dramatiques qui dominent une grande partie du cinéma contemporain.
Pour autant, ce film n'est pas conçu comme un documentaire. Il suit une tradition établie par les poètes cinéastes modernes. Ce qui m'intéresse, c'est d’intensifier les instants fugaces de la réalité, en filmant et en structurant ma matière de manière personnelle. Une importance particulière a été accordée à la couleur, au mouvement, au rythme et à la structure, éléments essentiels à ma recherche.
- Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas,
I Seem To Live Vol.2 1969-2011, The New York Diaries
Spector Books
The second volume of Jonas Mekas’s autobiography I Seem to Live. The New York Diaries, 1969–2011 continues with the meticulous description of his dense life in New York’s underground art scene. It begins with the seventies, a time when the Chelsea Hotel was a central hub of creativity and a temporary home for the filmmaker and critic. In 1970, Mekas cofounded Anthology Film Archives with Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, and Stan Brakhage. Later, he bought the Courthouse building at 32 Second Avenue where Anthology remains today. Jonas Mekas finished editing his autobiography’s last volume when he was over ninety years old. Published posthumously, I Seem to Live. The New York Diaries, 1950–2011 stands on an equal footing with his cinematic oeuvre. The second and concluding volume of his diaries, contains an extensive index of names
Le programme du centenaire est le fruit d'une collaboration internationale entre de grandes organisations artistiques et cinématographiques, des conservateurs, des éditeurs, le réseau mondial des attachés culturels lituaniens, la succession de Jonas Mekas et l'Institut culturel lituanien.
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The centennial program is a joint international collaboration between leading art and cinema organisations, curators, publishers, the global network of Lithuanian cultural attachés, the Estate of Jonas Mekas, and the Lithuanian Culture Institute.