Yoko Ono was a pacesetter of conceptual experiments and critical participant of the Fluxus network of the 1960s. Today she is more well-known as a pop culture icon, overshadowed by her late husband, the rock star John Lennon; this might explain why she hasn’t had any major museum solo show in the USA since Yes Yoko Ono (2000) at the Japan Society Gallery. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) took Ono’s 1971 intervention—completed without permission—into its space as a starting point for this monographic survey: she released flies from a glass container the volume of her body filled with her perfume in MoMA’s sculpture garden. The show traveled with the flies. A documentary video was produced, in which passers-by were asked about their opinion of Yoko Ono’s one woman show: “I haven’t seen it,” “I don’t understand it.” Ono produced a catalog with a collaged photograph on its cover, in which Ono, with a handbag printed with “F” in her hand, transformed the museum’s sign into“The Museum of Modern [F]art.” MoMA has embraced this image as well as the title of the unofficial 1971 exhibition, which was a protest against the lack of women artists exhibiting at the Museum.
Yoko Ono. Cut Piece. 1964. Film by David and Albert Maysles. Performance by the artist, Carnegie Recital Hall, New York. 1965. Private Collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Given the anti-institutional tone of her early practice, why would the artist collaborate with an institution? Ono explains that the curators Christophe Cherix and Klaus Biesenbach knew her conceptual exhibition at MoMA more than forty years ago, and are “very sensitive” about her practice. “Ten years ago, there was a call from the Museum of Modern Art, and this person said, we have the record that you have done a show with us, would you tell us what it was about?… And then I got a call from Klaus. Christophe and Klaus knew the show in 1971 and wanted to do a show starting from there.”
The title of this MoMA monograph itself is already a curatorial statement, Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971, which receives Ono back to the art world through close examination of her early works, addressing feminism without celebrating Ono’s womanhood. A great number of the works exhibited are from the Gilbert B. and Lila Silverman Collection, donated to MoMA in 2008. Beyond a room dedicated to the MoMA intervention in 1971, the show consist of 125 pieces of works on paper, installation, films, and new realizations of early ephemeral works including those which invite audience participation, such as Painting to Be Stepped On (1961/2015), a piece of canvas thrown on the floor which is painted by the visitors’ footprints, Painting to See In The Dark (1961/2015), and Painting In Three Stanzas (1961/2015). Bag Piece (1964/2015), in which Ono originally used to cover herself and another partner at performances, when they take off and put on clothes, now is transformed into moving sculpture. The 1964 self-publication Grapefruit contains her instruction poems: no. 18 starts with “Give birth to a child. See the world through its eye….” Visitors are invited to climb a steel spiral staircase designed by Yoko Ono for the show, to see the sky above MoMA, a symbolic painting in Ono’s practice. Unlike stereotypical exhibitions about conceptual practices and ephemera, which prone to be monotone, this show does not bore you nor exhaust you.
When asked about the mission of artists today, in relation to global crisis and conflict, Ono replied that everyone is responsible for world peace. She concluded the press conference by reading a piece of her recent writing “Uncover” (2014), which takes pushing an elephant as an analogy to the hardship of sustaining advocacy efforts. Like her other instruction poems, this image has an abundant sharpness and silence.
One day, I pushed a huge elephant to the water to quench its thirst. I pushed and pushed. But the elephant did not move an inch. Will I keep pushing until I die? Maybe I will get a bravery award for trying. Which do I want, an award or a peaceful world? Of course, a peaceful world. Am I sure? If it’s something we cannot ever get, shall I just keep waving the flag?
World Peace is right in front of our eyes like the image on a drive-in theatre screen. It’s still there.
[…..]
All we had to do was to pave all highways of the planet with solar powered panels so there will be no more need for fighting for oil and gas. It will stop all wars…. and use stem cells to heal.
Uncover, not discover. Small change we have to make. But it’s worth it.
Yoko Ono. Typescript for Grapefruit. 1963-1964. 151 typewritten postcards, some with ink and graphite additions. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yoko Ono. Grapefruit. 1964. Artist’s book, offset. Publisher: Wunternaum Press (the artist), Tokyo. Edition: 500. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yoko Ono. Grapefruit. 1964. Artist’s book, offset. Publisher: Wunternaum Press (the artist), Tokyo. Edition: 500. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yoko Ono. Apple. 1966. Plexiglas pedestal, brass plaque, and apple. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yu-chieh Li (YCL): Why concentrate on the period 1960-1971?
Christophe Cherix (CC): I think we concentrate on that decade because it’s what we don’t really know. Yoko Ono is very well-known all over the world. But few people know she was a major art figure in New York, in Tokyo, and in London in the 1960s. So when she met John Lennon, she had ten years of very influential work behind her. And she wouldn’t be what she is today without those years. In those years some of the key ideas emerged. That’s when the practice really formed itself. We found it important to bring that back to the public, to say, “There is an aspect of Yoko Ono that you don’t really know, and we are going to concentrate on that.”
Yoko Ono. Bed-In. 1969. 16 mm film transferred to DVD (color, sound), 70:56 min. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yoko Ono. White Chess Set. 1966. Wooden table, two chairs, and chess set, all painted white. 77×61.1×61.1 cm. museum moderner kunst stiftung Ludwig wien. © Yoko Ono 2015.
YCL: In the 1960s, collaboration and friendships with male artists was actually an important part of Yoko’s life. This fact is indicated but not elaborated on in the exhibition,. Do you think it would affect Yoko’s originality and genius if the show deals more with her connection to and collaboration with men?
CC: The catalog really addresses people she met and collaborated with. But as a woman artist in the early ’60s, she was often defined by her male peers, and there is something extremely unfair to that. When you work with Rauschenberg or Cage other artists, there is a tendency that a woman artist then gets overshadowed. We feel that she wasn’t given justice in those years. And we really went back to archival documentary, to interview people, to really understand the singularity of her voice. And we came out with a strong belief that her voice is as important as any male artist’s in the 1960s. The catalogue really addresses that. But in the show we wanted to bring her work. We wanted to take everything out, take the anecdotes, the stories, and context out and let the works speak for themselves. And people judge. Is it a strong or not so strong work? The idea is to create a direct introduction to the viewer. And we believe the work can still address people that way.That’s the challenge of the exhibition.
Yoko Ono. Half a Room. 1967. Domestic objects cut in half, most painted white, dimensions vary. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yoko Ono. Half a Room. 1967. Domestic objects cut in half, most painted white, dimensions vary. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
YCL: How does this exhibition reflect the change in gender politics at the museum as well as in the art world in general?
CC: I think there is a new generation of curators at MoMA today. Among our generation it is clear that we need to rethink how we address our last 50 years. And we have to give fair treatment to everyone. There is a common narrative at most museums in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, so that it has been unfair to women and people from different minorities. It’s our role to try to address that directly. Again, to always do the research and try to understand whose voice was influential in a certain time. In that case we are a strong believer that the Yoko Ono show should be brought back.
Yoko Ono. Half a Room. 1967. Domestic objects cut in half, most painted white, dimensions vary. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
Yoko Ono. Half a Room. 1967. Domestic objects cut in half, most painted white, dimensions vary. Private collection. © Yoko Ono 2015.
