Jonas Mekas is undoubtedly one of the greatest film camera virtuosos of the 20th and 21th centuries. The artist also doesn’t shy away from using a video camera. Although true that the latter is less “aesthetically privileged”, video is very well suited for diaristic recordings, “letter” writing, conversations with others as well as with oneself.
During 2007, a video camera “wrote” Jonas’ diary with entries about everyday events. Each day’s video diary entry became a month’s worth and finally, a subjective video chronicle of an entire year in which each day is represented with a film lasting only a few minutes with an accompanying written dedication, poem, insight…
The recorded images in the “right here and now” video diary are intertwined with archival film photo clips, reminiscences, dreams, poetry. They, in turn, are interspersed with the words, thoughts and worlds of others as well, so that the diary becomes not only the documentation of the everyday, but also a meditative journey through the dimensions of spirit and memory.
The exhibition is displayed on twelve separate obelisks each showing that month’s videos on a small monitor. The entire video diary consists of 365 video films.
The 365 Day Project has been shown at the ZKM Karlsruhe in Germany, the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, the Galerie du Jour in Paris and the Microscope Gallery in New York among others.