{"id":25084,"date":"2026-05-05T09:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/naujienos\/the-archive-of-jonas-mekas-entrusted-to-the-lithuanian-national-museum-of-art-on-three-year-loan\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:01:10","slug":"the-archive-of-jonas-mekas-entrusted-to-the-lithuanian-national-museum-of-art-on-three-year-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/news\/the-archive-of-jonas-mekas-entrusted-to-the-lithuanian-national-museum-of-art-on-three-year-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"The archive of Jonas Mekas entrusted to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art on\u00a0 three-year-loan\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

A three-year loan contract entrusting the archive of Jonas Mekas (1922 \u2013 2019) to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) was signed on 4 May, at the Radvila Palace Museum of Art of the LNMA.<\/p>\n

The contract has been signed by the son of Jonas Mekas, Sebastian Mekas, and the Director General of the LNMA, Dr Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas. The event was attended by Gra\u017eina Michnevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117 who significantly contributed to the transfer of the archive from New York to Lithuania.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe homecoming of Jonas Mekas\u2019s archive to Lithuania is of consequence to our cultural life. We appreciate the opportunity to safeguard, but especially to bring it into the forefront of cultural life, by presenting it, in a form of exhibitions, research and publications, to the public in Lithuania and to Mekas\u2019s fans globally,\u201d Dr Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas, director general of the LNMA, said.<\/p>\n

\u201eMy father\u2019s life and work have always been closely intertwined, and this archive preserves both. It brings me great joy that it now returns to his home country. This cooperation between the Museum and the Jonas Mekas Estate will allow a deeper engagement with the material he created and collected over nearly a century,\u201d Sebastian Mekas has this to share on the important occasion.<\/p>\n

The massive archive opening New York\u2019s avant-garde scene<\/h6>\n
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Director General of the LNMA Dr Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas, Gra\u017eina Michnevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117 and Sebastian Mekas. Photo by Gintar\u0117 Grig\u0117nait\u0117 \/ LNMA<\/p><\/div>\n

Last summer, Jonas Mekas\u2019s archive of impressive scale arrived from the filmmaker\u2019s New York studio to the storerooms of the LNMA in Vilnius. It included the Godfather\u2019s of the avant-garde film personal items which accompanied him throughout his creative life: his rich correspondence and historical documents, the computers, the studio and video editing equipment. Arrived also the authentic studio furniture pieces \u2013 the tables Jonas Mekas worked at, engaged in discussions and spent time with New York\u2019s avantgarde community, such like-minded artists as Andy Warhol, and others.<\/p>\n

Besides the equipment he used in his creative work, the archive includes his artwork: DVDs with films and the printed stills. The collection includes the artwork by other artists acquired by him to decorate his New York studio. This diverse material illuminates the artist\u2019s broad cultural and creative world outlook and his close links to the international art environment allowing a deeper knowledge of the milieu that shaped the creative path of his rich personality.<\/p>\n

A significant part of the archive is a collection of books, of different genres, inclusive of numerous books of poetry and philosophy.<\/p>\n

Jonas Mekas\u2019s archive to inspire new exhibitions and research\u00a0<\/h6>\n
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Director General of the LNMA Dr Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas and Sebastian Mekas. Photo by Gintar\u0117 Grig\u0117nait\u0117 \/ LNMA<\/p><\/div>\n

While in Lithuania, the archive of Jonas Mekas will present itself to new narratives. Over the period of the three years, when the Museum is entrusted with the care of the archive, it will be opened for the public. Two exhibitions will take place in the coming years to present, in depth, the art and life of Jonas Mekas, and the avant-garde scene of New York.<\/p>\n

The archive will be primarily researched by the LNMA researchers and curators, further on, there are plans to create opportunities for other researchers and scholars in different fields to thoroughly explore Mekas\u2019s legacy. This way the archive will become instrumental in enhancing the relevance of Mekas\u2019s art and its promotion on the contemporary art field.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A three-year loan contract entrusting the archive of Jonas Mekas (1922 \u2013 2019) to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) was signed on 4 May, at the Radvila Palace Museum of Art of the LNMA. The contract has been signed by the son of Jonas Mekas, Sebastian Mekas, and the Director General of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[],"department":[69],"class_list":["post-25084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pranesimas","department-lithuanian-national-museum-of-art"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25084"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=25084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}