ARITMIJA 2022 (ARRHYTHMIA) – arts festival in Merkinė

ARITMIJA (ARRHYTHMIA) returns to Merkinė! Surrounded by nature, an interdisciplinary art and contemporary music experience awaits you. On 5–6 August, so much of Merkinė will open up at the rhythm of Jonas Mekas: an observation tower, a hill of crosses, the culture centre, the manor estate.

For a detailed programme, follow the link: shorturl.at/uV057

The 2nd arts festival ARITMIJA will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jonas Mekas, one of the most prominent artists and poets of Lithuanian background, often called the godfather of American avant-garde cinema. A student of Jonas Mekas, the writer and director V.V. Landsbergis, recalls that Mekas always spoke not of endings, as is so often characteristic of Lithuanians, but of beginnings, of possibilities. “He taught his students that art is not very different from life, and in life one needs to learn to find joy and to play. He taught us to play some kind of trick or some joke every day,” says Landsbergis, who visited the Merkinė hill of crosses together with Mekas in 1995. The tragic fate of the resistance fighters, and the Soviet attempt to hide the crime by building a secondary school’s football pitch (field) over the unmarked graves, made a deep impression on Mekas. He filmed what he observed there (as told by V.V. Landsbergis).

Festival participants:

· Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center (in Lithuanian, JMVMC),

· Dalius Naujokaitis,

· Nicolas Lafay,

· Simonas Nekrošius,

· V.V. Landsbergis,

· Alanas Gurinas,

· VšĮ Balta kreida,

· music groups: Arklio galia, Vaibai Ore, Quark Effect, Cleaning Service Agency.

During the festival, the installations and exhibitions of the artists of MC Merkinė will be on display, and painting workshops will take place outdoors (en plein air).

Organiser: Varėna Culture Centre and its branch, Merkinė Culture Centre.

Partners: Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center, Dzūkija National Park, VšĮ Balta kreida, Merkinės muilo fabrikas, Merkinė town community.

Main sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Varėna District Municipality Administration.