In 2021, the Jewish Museum of New York plans to host a solo exhibition of works by Jonas Mekas and to publish a monograph under the working title Jonas Mekas: Organiser, Curator, Friend.

The collective monograph will be published on the occasion of two major exhibitions of the life and work of Jonas Mekas, hosted independently by two institutions: The Jewish Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius. Both exhibitions are scheduled to open in April 2021, so the monograph will be published in early 2021. This monograph aims to create a new and original study of Jonas Mekas’ life and work. In June 2019, Kelly Taxter (USA), curator of the Jewish Museum in New York, visited Lithuania to prepare for the exhibition and the monograph.

This will be the first academic monograph to analyse Jonas Mekas’ creative and professional life. Keeping in mind Mekas’ creative contributions to the world of film and poetry, prominent art historians Ed Halter (Bard University, USA), Andrew Uroskie (Stony Brook University, USA), Melissa Ragona (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), and Kelly Taxter (curator of the Jewish Museum) will reasearch in their articles Jonas Mekas’ organisational contribution to the development of the art world in the USA, his established relationships with world-renowned artists and his strategies for creating and maintaining the network of now world-known institutions and publications (Anthology Film Archives, The Film-Makers’ Cooperative, magazine Film Culture, etc.) in New York.

The book seeks to present the full range of Mekas’ diverse work (Mekas not only as an artist but also as an organiser, administrator and facilitator) and his artistic environment, professional and personal relationships with New York avant-garde artists and filmmakers.