Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center Opens in Vilnius

On November 4, 2007, Jonas Mekas inaugurated the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius, Lithuania. The center is dedicated to avant-garde and experimental cinema, providing an open space for filmmakers worldwide to screen works and engage in dialogue. The inaugural exhibition, 'L'Avant-garde, du futurisme à Fluxus,' honors Mekas's friend George Maciunas and features films, manuscripts, objects, and photograms by Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Allen Ginsberg, and Salvador Dalí. The exhibition highlights the film 'Zefiro Torna: scènes de la vie de George Maciunas.' Lithuania aims to boost its international cultural profile, positioning Mekas, Maciunas, and poet Kazys Binkis as emblematic avant-garde figures, ahead of Vilnius's bid for European Capital of Culture in 2009. The center is also the first step toward the future Guggenheim/Hermitage Museum in Vilnius, led by former mayor Arturas Zuokas. Notable guests included Fluxus artist Ben and filmmaker Pip Chodorov, founder of Re:Voir editions and a Paris gallery. Re:Voir's catalog includes over sixty titles by Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow, and others. A recent publication, 'Ma vie nocturne,' collects Mekas's illustrated dreams, and a box set of his films is planned.