Jonas Mekas: The Camera Was Always Running

Jonas Mekas was a Lithuanian-American artist and impresario who made over 100 innovative films and video works. This book explores his life and work, including his contributions to experimental theater, music, poetry, performance, and film. It features sequences of stills from his films and videos, photographic series, and archival documents, and is published in association with the Jewish Museum, New York, and the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Vilnius.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 04 February 2022
Publisher: Yale University Press

Between 1950 and his passing in 2019, the artist and impresario Jonas Mekas created over one hundred groundbreaking, frequently diaristic films and video works. He also established film festivals, cooperatives, archives, and magazines, as well as wrote film criticism and poetry.

Jonas Mekas: The Camera Was Always Running is the first comprehensive English publication on this pivotal figure in the New York avant-garde scene, presenting an extensively illustrated, in-depth exploration of his radical art and restless life.

Born in rural Lithuania, Mekas immigrated to New York, where he became a central figure in the overlapping realms of experimental theater, music, poetry, performance, and film. This book brings his work to life on the page with sequences of stills from film and video, photographic series and installations, and archival documents. Leading scholars examine his work and influence, and a timeline expands our understanding of his life.

Published in association with the Jewish Museum, New York, and the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Vilnius, this book offers a comprehensive examination of Mekas's life and work.

Exhibition Schedule:

Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Vilnius
(November 19, 2021–February 27, 2022)

Jewish Museum, New York
(February 18–June 5, 2022)

Weight: 1334g
Dimension: 217 x 291 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300253078