2019 12 20 – 2020 03 01, Two suns by Saulius Grigoravicius. The Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center presents the blackest of blacks electric art exhibition Two Suns by Saulius Grigoravicius. Painting in one color, in this case – black, is most probably the highest form of painting. It is meta-painting. Black is not even a color, it’s a lack of color. Malevich’s Black Square ended a painting tradition of a few centuries by recoding a 3D space into a 2D flat deconstruction. Even so, having no illusion as an object for discussion or interpretation, we have an incomprehensible amount of space to interpret dark (lack of light) and light. We invite you to do so at this exhibition.

2020 01 20 – 24 KEEP SINGING. IN MEMORIAM JONUI MEKUI. Jonas’ close friend percussionist Dalius Naujokaitis-Naujo, together with the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center, the Jono Meko Fondas, Menų Cechas and an international group of talented musicians invite everyone to participate in a series of week-long events with a  thunderous and resounding thank you to the great Lithuanian artist, film poet Jonas Mekas, for his enormous contribution to our culture, our freedom and open view of the world. All events are free and will take place in the Concert Hall at Vėjai, Vilniaus street.

2020 03 15 ARŪNAS KULIKAUSKAS: PHOTO OBJECTS 1995 – 2020. During the last 15 years, A. Kulikauskas has mostly worked with Polaroid materials. His art is multi-dimensional. Using a combination of pinhole and Polaroid techniques, the photographs that he creates tell a story of the artist’s conceptualism and his search for a style that is completely his own. The pinhole technique is one of the simplest of photographic techniques – all you basically need is an old empty match box with a hole in it, you don’t have to search for any cameras or film, you can project the photograph directly onto paper and pieces. A. Kulikauskas does not work with the usual light sensitive paper, but with the fleeting and momentary Polaroid materials that run contrary to the primitiveness and asceticism of pinhole materials. This results in experimental photographs with the photographer’s titles in English often beneath them. The works seem very personal, sometimes it’s uncomfortable to even look at them – they make you feel as though you are going through a stranger’s drawer of personal items. As the artist himself says, his things are “covered in memories and meaning.” You can’t understand why this is so and where it is going. But, it’s certainly interesting. 

2020 06 08 – 06 09 AUSTĖ GUOGAITĖ: INTUITiv EXHIBITION. The INTUITIVE show is a Masters’ degree completion project by Austė Guogaitė. Her works are created following an intuitively creative method, rejecting the principles of planning and analyzing ideas. In her creative process, the artist uses the irrational phenomena of the human psyche, which are the basis for creativity: imagination, intuition, dreams, and emotions. Relying solely on this, she constructs intuitive compositions from blocks, whose changes are dependent on time and space. Her abstract intuitive compositions intertwine elements of modern sculpture and traditional textiles. The artist invites you to not necessarily understand her work, but to experience and feel it through contemplation and a subtle aesthetic experience.

2020 06 18 – 07 18 The Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center presents the first exhibition in our new series of Non-Budget Art (NBA): Maybe I should shave my head bald and then it wouldn’t be so hot in my head? by artist Antanas Zabielavičius. This work was created during the Covid-19 quarantine.

2020 07 30 – 09 01 KEN FRIEDMAN: 99 EVENTS.Do you believe that art can be created by anyone? American FLUXUS artist Ken Friedman will try to prove it to you at the virtual opening of his exhibition 99 Events that was created over a period of almost seven decades. The show exhibits 99 short scripts/instructions that every visitor is invited to make happen.

2020 08 04. BANANA CASE – EVERYONE’S CONCERN. The first seminars about happenings in Lithuania began back in 1988-1989 in the village of Ažuožeriai in Anykščiai. They never had a unifying theme but were always a forum for discussing what was relevant to the FLUXUS movement at the time and were always competing with time and space. In order to return and strengthen this tradition, we are organizing a conference to discuss the topic of the (im)possibilities of alternative, interdisciplinary and other (non)art.

2020 10 02 – 04 ART VILNIUS – CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR 2020. ArtVilnius’20 opens this Friday, October 2 in Vilnius. During the three days of the highly popular contemporary art fair, the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center will present its project “Glimpses” from the Jonas Mekas film archives.

2020 10 08 – 10 10. TEATRICAL INSTALLATION „FABRICA”. TheSirenos Vilnius International Theater Festival has been fostering a mutual exchange of ideas and creativity between Lithuania and the world theater to present a “different” kind of theater to Lithuanian audiences through a showcase of innovative works by famous international stage artists who are forming a new theater reality.

2020 10 15 – 11 15. ARVYDAS LUKYS „Jetlag“. Jetlag is an installation of several video projections that expand upon the idea of the previous DJV project (together with the photo essay book The Future Continuous) about emotions evoked through mundane experiences. Ordinary events of life unfold as if turning on a chronological axis, creating in one’s consciousness a story of events experienced that day, which later become part of your life’s story.