John Lennon once described his wife Yoko Ono as "the world’s most famous unknown artist: everyone knows her name but no one knows what she actually does." So we picked nine of her key works to fill the gap and draw a portrait of a conceptual artist, performer, singer, film-maker and peace activist. Yoko Ono is actually the best known Japanese multimedia artist revered for her provocative and expressive avant-garde
oeuvre.
Although Yoko Ono is often reduced to her role of John Lennon's wife who broke up the Beatles, she had a thriving artistic career that started long before the both of them even met.
By marrying John Lennon, Yoko Ono became one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. So many Beatles fans were jealous of their happiness that she turned into a hate figure. First, people accused her of breaking the Lennon’s marriage and then the Beatles themselves. But only a few know that John broke Yoko’s second marriage where she had a child and the Beatles have outlived their heyday.Yoko’s life before John Lennon was just as turbulent. She was born in Tokyo in 1933 into a wealthy family of a concerting classical pianist who made a career as an international banker and a mother who was a glamorous socialite. The family swang between New York and Japan back and forth following their father’s job transfers. Yoko Ono didn’t feel at home either in the US or in Japan, sensing that she just didn’t fit in. However, having never fully belonged either to Eastern or Western culture, she has absorbed fruits from them both.
Attending an exclusive school in Japan as a child, she wrote poetry and plays and received classical training in piano and voice. Yoko Ono became the first woman admitted to the philosophy program at Gakushūin University in Tokyo, but she dropped it after two semesters and later studied writing and music at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She has never graduated from the latter either, but struggled instead to find her exclusive artistic niche.
Yoko Ono made her way onto the international art scene in the early 1960s as a provocative artist. From her early days, her performances shocked people. She lived in New York, Tokyo, and London during 1960s and greatly influenced the international development of Fluxus and Conceptual art. Eventually, Yoko Ono has made profound contributions to visual art, performance, filmmaking, and experimental music. And she continues to produce work and make headlines today even though she turned 85 years this February.
1. Cut Piece, 1964
Yoko Ono performing "Cut Piece" on July 20, 1964 at Yamaichi Concert Hall, Kyoto, Japan. Photographer unknown; courtesy Lenono Photo Archive.
'Cut Piece' is a Yoko Ono performance first done in Kyoto, Japan in 1964. It involved an audience who cut off pieces of Yoko’s clothing while she sat calmly on stage with her legs folded underneath. Her posture replicated the polite Japanese sitting position seiza assumed in formal or respectable environments. Yoko asked audience members to come up the stage, one by one, take a pair of scissors, cut any piece of her costume, and take the scraps with them. After her verbal instructions, she remained silent for the whole performance until finally she was left in her underwear surrounded by rags.
"It was a form of giving, giving and taking. It was a kind of criticism against artists, who are always giving what they want to give. I wanted people to take whatever they wanted to, so it was very important to say you can cut wherever you want to," Yoko Ono explained later.
And although art critics marked the performance as "an early piece of feminist art that called into question interpersonal relations and destruction" and later claimed that the event stressed on Feminist struggle against treating women as submissive objects in society, Yoko Ono herself said that she turned into action the idea of giving, inspired by Buddhism. "That's a form of total giving as opposed to reasonable giving like "logically you deserve this" or "I think this is good, therefore I am giving this to you," she said in he 1968 Interview with Tony Elliot, from Time Out Magazine.
Yet, by provoking people to strip her with a pair of scissors, Yoko Ono actually placed the participants in the wilful and public demeaning of herself. What she exposed so simply is the suppressed aggression and even sadism that is released when "permission" is granted to attack a vulnerable woman.
"It was a form of giving, giving and taking. It was a kind of criticism against artists, who are always giving what they want to give. I wanted people to take whatever they wanted to, so it was very important to say you can cut wherever you want to," Yoko Ono explained later.
And although art critics marked the performance as "an early piece of feminist art that called into question interpersonal relations and destruction" and later claimed that the event stressed on Feminist struggle against treating women as submissive objects in society, Yoko Ono herself said that she turned into action the idea of giving, inspired by Buddhism. "That's a form of total giving as opposed to reasonable giving like "logically you deserve this" or "I think this is good, therefore I am giving this to you," she said in he 1968 Interview with Tony Elliot, from Time Out Magazine.
Yet, by provoking people to strip her with a pair of scissors, Yoko Ono actually placed the participants in the wilful and public demeaning of herself. What she exposed so simply is the suppressed aggression and even sadism that is released when "permission" is granted to attack a vulnerable woman.
Yoko Ono’s idea was essentially replayed by Marina Abramovic in her performance work Rhythm O ten years later where she was standing still for 6 hours while the audience was invited to do to her whatever they wished using one of 72 objects she had placed on a table in front of her including a rose, feather, perfume, honey, bread, grapes, wine, scissors, a scalpel, nails, a metal bar, and a gun loaded with one bullet.
There’s a striking parallel between two performances — the humiliation Marina suffered was similarly disturbing to Yoko’s. But the subtle minimalism of the original Ono piece only underlines an egotistical and comical overkill of Abramovic’s work. Since Rhythm O performance in 1974, Marina Abramovic has been at the forefront of intimate personal exposure as a valid art genre. She has even proclaimed herself the "grandmother of performance art". But this accolade Yoko Ono deserves, not Marina.
There’s a striking parallel between two performances — the humiliation Marina suffered was similarly disturbing to Yoko’s. But the subtle minimalism of the original Ono piece only underlines an egotistical and comical overkill of Abramovic’s work. Since Rhythm O performance in 1974, Marina Abramovic has been at the forefront of intimate personal exposure as a valid art genre. She has even proclaimed herself the "grandmother of performance art". But this accolade Yoko Ono deserves, not Marina.
Yoko Ono repeated the Cut Piece dozen of times in different countries. She reenacted the performance on September 15, 2003 at Theatre Ranelagh, Paris as an expression of her hope for world peace following the political changes after 9/11 attacks.
Left: Yoko Ono performing Cut Piece at Theatre Ranelagh, Paris, France in 2003.
2. Grapefruit Book, 1964
In 1964, Ono published a small book titled Grapefruit where she placed her event scores—instructions or suggestions for different acts. If a reader follows them, he/she would create music or artistic pieces either literally or in the imagination. Equally delightful and subversive, whimsical and startling, this influential book was deemed a monument of conceptual art of the early 1960s, and Yoko Ono has enacted scenarios of the book throughout her career.
The book is composed of five sections titled Music, Painting, Event, Poetry and Object; later editions added Film and Dance. The activities suggested usually refer to a simple day-to-day life—actions, ideas, and objects—yet recontexualized as performance. Pulse Piece, for example, suggests, "Listen to each other’s pulse by putting your ear on the other’s stomach. 1963 Winter."
There is plenty of humor in the book. Just read the Conversation Piece bellow.
The book is composed of five sections titled Music, Painting, Event, Poetry and Object; later editions added Film and Dance. The activities suggested usually refer to a simple day-to-day life—actions, ideas, and objects—yet recontexualized as performance. Pulse Piece, for example, suggests, "Listen to each other’s pulse by putting your ear on the other’s stomach. 1963 Winter."
There is plenty of humor in the book. Just read the Conversation Piece bellow.
Conversation Piece, an event score from Grapefruit, 1964.
The title of the book comes from Ono’s belief that a grapefruit is a hybrid of an orange and a lemon and she saw a reflection of herself in this fruit as kind of "a spiritual hybrid": a mix between American and Japanese identities.
By her event scores Ono intended to replace a physical work of art with written instructions or suggestions for acts that the reader experiencing them could create. Her instructions preceded by dedications to contemporary figures of arts and letters including John Cage, Peggy Guggenheim, George Maciunas, Isamu Noguchi, Nam June Paik and La Monte Young, and also includes documentation relating to Ono’s exhibitions and performances.
In 1970, Simon & Schuster decided to rerelease Grapefruit smelling a commercial opportunity, and asked John Lennon to contribute the book’s literal introduction. John wrote: "Hi! My name is John Lennon/ I’d like you to meet Yoko Ono." "A dream you dream alone may be a dream, but a dream two people dream together is a reality." And he also answered Yoko’s provocative instruction "Burn this book after you’ve read it" with his perfect note "This is the greatest book I’ve ever burned."
By her event scores Ono intended to replace a physical work of art with written instructions or suggestions for acts that the reader experiencing them could create. Her instructions preceded by dedications to contemporary figures of arts and letters including John Cage, Peggy Guggenheim, George Maciunas, Isamu Noguchi, Nam June Paik and La Monte Young, and also includes documentation relating to Ono’s exhibitions and performances.
In 1970, Simon & Schuster decided to rerelease Grapefruit smelling a commercial opportunity, and asked John Lennon to contribute the book’s literal introduction. John wrote: "Hi! My name is John Lennon/ I’d like you to meet Yoko Ono." "A dream you dream alone may be a dream, but a dream two people dream together is a reality." And he also answered Yoko’s provocative instruction "Burn this book after you’ve read it" with his perfect note "This is the greatest book I’ve ever burned."
Event scores from Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit, 1964.
On December 6, 1980, two days before he was killed, John Lennon confessed in his interview to BBC Radio’s Andy Peebles, when they got to the subject of "Imagine," that he drew his inspiration for the song from Yoko’s Grapefruit. Well, it took him 9 years to admit Yoko’s influence.
"Actually that should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it—the lyric and the concept—came from Yoko. But those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution. But it was right out of Grapefruit, her book. There’s a whole pile of pieces about "Imagine this" and "Imagine that." … But if it had been Bowie, I would have put "Lennon-Bowie," you see. If it had been a male, you know… Harry Nilsson—"Old Dirt Road," it’s "Lennon-Nilsson." But when we did "Imagine" I just put "Lennon" because, you know, she’s just the wife and you don’t put her name on, right?" said John Lennon.
"Actually that should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it—the lyric and the concept—came from Yoko. But those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution. But it was right out of Grapefruit, her book. There’s a whole pile of pieces about "Imagine this" and "Imagine that." … But if it had been Bowie, I would have put "Lennon-Bowie," you see. If it had been a male, you know… Harry Nilsson—"Old Dirt Road," it’s "Lennon-Nilsson." But when we did "Imagine" I just put "Lennon" because, you know, she’s just the wife and you don’t put her name on, right?" said John Lennon.
3. Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting, 1966
- Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery, 1966. Photo by Graham Keen, credit internationaltimes.it
- Yoko Ono, Ceiling Painting. Text on paper, glass, metal frame , metal chain, magnifying glass, painted ladder. Ladder: 183 x 49 x 21 cm, framed text: 64.8 x 56.4 cm Private Collection. Photo by Oded Löbl © Yoko Ono, credit guggenheim-bilbao.eus
In 1966, Yoko Ono displayed her interactive object known as Ceiling Painting at Indica Gallery show in London. The audience was invited to climb to the top of a white ladder, where a magnifying glass, attached by a chain, hangs from a frame on the ceiling. Those who decided to reach the top, used the reading glass to discover a block letter "instruction" beneath the framed sheet of glass that reads "YES".
By some lore, John Lennon climbed by the ladder to the top and was really amused by Ono’s "YES" in block letters. In a time of different protests, when every other placard read "No this" and "No that" and everyone was anti-everything, Yoko’s art piece was like a fresh breath of air delivering positive affirmation, even though it was just a wonderful bit of absurdity.
By some lore, John Lennon climbed by the ladder to the top and was really amused by Ono’s "YES" in block letters. In a time of different protests, when every other placard read "No this" and "No that" and everyone was anti-everything, Yoko’s art piece was like a fresh breath of air delivering positive affirmation, even though it was just a wonderful bit of absurdity.
4. No. 4 (aka Bottoms), 1966
Film No. 4 known as Bottoms captured in production
Apart from conceptual art focused on text, Ono tried her hand at experimental film-making as well. She made several short films as part of the Fluxes movement and then came up with a strange yet brilliant idea to shoot bottoms in 1966. Her script read, "String bottoms together in place of signatures for petition for peace."
Together with the directors Tony Perkins and Tony Cox, Yoko’s husband at the time, they shot two hours of the footage in just two days at Ono’s New York City apartment at 1 West 100th Street. A low budget silent version of the short lasted for five minutes and fifteen seconds. Ono titled it "Four" which was a conceptual number for Fluxus (a minimal Fluxus name) but the film was commonly referred to as Bottoms.
Together with the directors Tony Perkins and Tony Cox, Yoko’s husband at the time, they shot two hours of the footage in just two days at Ono’s New York City apartment at 1 West 100th Street. A low budget silent version of the short lasted for five minutes and fifteen seconds. Ono titled it "Four" which was a conceptual number for Fluxus (a minimal Fluxus name) but the film was commonly referred to as Bottoms.
The short film featured tight close-ups of fifteen bare buttocks of both men and women walking on an unseen treadmill. Yoko’s friends, artists and musicians, or rather their bottoms, showed up one by one for 10 seconds. Their motion was rhythmically edited, under the same single beat.
"For me, the film is less about bottoms than about a certain beat, a beat you didn’t see in films, even in avant-garde films then. It was about movement. The beat in Film No 4 (Bottoms) is comparable to a rock beat. Even in the music world there wasn’t that beat until rock came along. It’s the closest thing to the heartbeat," Yoko told in 1989.
The strange film premiered at the Film-Maker's Cinematheque, New York on 6th February 1966 and turned the film world upside down.
"For me, the film is less about bottoms than about a certain beat, a beat you didn’t see in films, even in avant-garde films then. It was about movement. The beat in Film No 4 (Bottoms) is comparable to a rock beat. Even in the music world there wasn’t that beat until rock came along. It’s the closest thing to the heartbeat," Yoko told in 1989.
The strange film premiered at the Film-Maker's Cinematheque, New York on 6th February 1966 and turned the film world upside down.
Film No. 4 known as Bottoms captured in production
So, Yoko Ono shot the second, longer version of the Four the same year in London. It included many more famous and infamous bottoms (conceptually 365 to coincide with each day of the calendar year). The cast included almost 100 men and women — bohemian "saints of our time" and many London scene-makers, including Richard Hamilton, who later designed The Beatles (White Album) cover. To show all of them, Yoko divided the screen into four moving quadrants and protracted time to eighty minutes.
The Four's amusing soundtrack comprised of shy giggling and commentary of the actual performers, who intellectualized the film’s absurd concept in relation to the art world. You can also hear off-screen television news coverage and Yoko voicing the concept of the film.
Female and male bottoms, with no signs of genitals and faces of their owners, filled the film with a charming sense of innocence. However, it was still rated X by British censors and banned by the Royal Albert Hall in 1967.
The Four's amusing soundtrack comprised of shy giggling and commentary of the actual performers, who intellectualized the film’s absurd concept in relation to the art world. You can also hear off-screen television news coverage and Yoko voicing the concept of the film.
Female and male bottoms, with no signs of genitals and faces of their owners, filled the film with a charming sense of innocence. However, it was still rated X by British censors and banned by the Royal Albert Hall in 1967.
The censorship has served Yoko Ono well in a way. Although she could never get profits from the film distribution to cover her £1,000 production costs, she got sensational and valuable media coverage, especially by BBC newsmen, who were enamored by Yoko and her film. One TV station has actually put three minutes of the banned film on the air while telling the censorship story in the evening news. It was the best advertisement Yoko Ono ever dreamed of!
Above: Yoko Ono in the center of a group at a protest outside the offices of the British Board of Film Censors, London, 10th March 1967.
Yoko Ono just could not sit around, as you may guess. She decided to stage a peaceful protest at the British Board of Film Censors. Early in the morning, she handed out conceptually 1,000 daffodils, supported by several of her 'cast', to people who worked for the Board or to those who were just passing by the building. The happening was filmed by the reporters who gathered around.
The group, headed by Yoko Ono, displayed photo stills from the film, with text asking 'What's wrong with this picture?' (see photo above). The same day the newspaper headlines read, 'Fragrant Picket for Film Censor', and 'Yoko, the Girl BEHIND a Protest.' She defended her film, "The whole idea of the film is one of peace. It’s quite harmless. It is not in the least bit dirty or kinky. There’s no murder or violence."
Fifty years later, with Yoko Ono’s permission, the counterculture season Summer of Love: Revisited (May-June 2017) screened the No. 4 film in its entirety for the first time at the Royal Albert Hall.
"I'm very pleased that my film ‘Bottoms' is finally being shown at The Royal Albert Hall, 50 years after it was banned. As I said at the time in 1967, "These bottoms belonged to people who represented the London scene. And I hope that in 50 years or so, they will see that the 60's was not only the age of achievements, but of laughter. Love, Yoko."
It may seem unbelievable but Yoko Ono had envisioned her film’s future…
"I'm very pleased that my film ‘Bottoms' is finally being shown at The Royal Albert Hall, 50 years after it was banned. As I said at the time in 1967, "These bottoms belonged to people who represented the London scene. And I hope that in 50 years or so, they will see that the 60's was not only the age of achievements, but of laughter. Love, Yoko."
It may seem unbelievable but Yoko Ono had envisioned her film’s future…
5. Bed-In For Peace, 1969
John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the first day of their Bed-In for Peace in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. 25 March 1969. Photo: © Clausule /Wikicommons
Yoko Ono and John Lennon married in 1969 against a backdrop of raging war in Vietnam. For their honeymoon, they invited press to their hotel room at the Hilton in Amsterdam where they stayed in bed for week in an effort to promote world peace and to express a non-violent protest against the raging war.
Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Bed-In. 1969. Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal. Photo: Gerry Deiter. © Joan Athey
The couple experimented with the concept of a sit-in and took it to a new level, producing a peace performance out of it. They staged another ‘bed-in' at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal and after that they spread the message ‘War Is Over! If You Want It — Happy Christmas From John and Yoko' on billboards in 11 major cities around the world in 1969.
Two years later, in 1971, Yoko Ono and John Lennon made a song out of that. 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' became an anthem, just like the preceding 'Give Peace a Chance' that was written and performed during their Bed-In honeymoon in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Two years later, in 1971, Yoko Ono and John Lennon made a song out of that. 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' became an anthem, just like the preceding 'Give Peace a Chance' that was written and performed during their Bed-In honeymoon in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
"John and I thought after Bed-In, "The war is going to end." How naive we were, you know? But the thing is, things take time. I think it’s going to happen. I mean, that I think we’re going to have a peaceful world. But it’s just taking a little bit more time than we thought then," Yoko Ono.
6. Wish tree, 1993-ongoing
Yoko Ono, Wish Tree. Photo: credit imaginepeacetower.com
The participatory art installation Wish Tree was made for the first time after John Lennon’s passing (1980), according to Yoko Ono. Art curators name a later date, they claim that the series' inception has happened in 1993, and since that time it remains an ongoing project that has gained respect and renown in recent years.
Wish Tree has been integral to many of Ono’s exhibitions at museums and cultural centers in several cities around the world, including New York, Tokyo, London, Venice and Dublin. And any other city could make the installation as well unless it is for non-commercial, non-fund-raising purposes, and happens under Ono’s direction. Any school, workplace or community should just plant a tree native to the area and invite viewers to tie a written wish of hope to its branches.
Wish Tree has been integral to many of Ono’s exhibitions at museums and cultural centers in several cities around the world, including New York, Tokyo, London, Venice and Dublin. And any other city could make the installation as well unless it is for non-commercial, non-fund-raising purposes, and happens under Ono’s direction. Any school, workplace or community should just plant a tree native to the area and invite viewers to tie a written wish of hope to its branches.
Yoko’s instructions are simple as always: "Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper. Fold it and tie it around a branch of a Wish Tree. Ask your friends to do the same. Keep wishing. Until the branches are covered with wishes."
"As a child in Japan, I used to go to a temple and write out a wish on a piece of thin paper and tie it around the branch of a tree. Trees in temple courtyards were always filled with people’s wish knots, which looked like white flowers blossoming from afar," Yoko Ono.
Yoko Ono collects all the wishes since the project has been started. She has already received more than one million wishes altogether. All of them are preserved and stored in the Wishing Well of the Imagine Peace Tower, another work by Yoko Ono made in 2007 on the Isle of Videy, just outside of Reykjavik, Iceland.
"I hope Imagine Peace Tower will give light to the strong wishes of World Peace from all corners of the planet and give encouragement, inspiration and a sense of solidarity in a world now filled with fear and confusion. Let us come together to realize a peaceful world. I consider myself very fortunate to see the dream my husband and I dreamt together become reality," Yoko Ono, 2007.
Left: Yoko Ono, Imagine Peace Tower, 2007. Isle of Videy near Reykjavik, Iceland.
7. Mended Cups and Unbroken Cup set, 2015
Yoko Ono, Mended Cups and Unbroken Cup set, 2015. Photo credit www.illy.com.
As a well-known peace activist who has long campaigned against the evils of war, Yoko Ono has come up with the idea of repairing broken and cracked pottery to make people remember the major historical tragedies and commend the preserving of peace.
As if trying to fix the world’s sorrows, Yoko Ono repaired 6 cracked coffee cups with glue and golden paint and wrote the dates and places of the six catastrophic events that have affected the world on the saucers under each cup.
One of the cups refers to the tragedy that has directly affected her life: the day her husband John Lennon was murdered by Mark Chapman in December 1980, which she witnessed at close range. Other catastrophies indirectly affected Yoko Ono, yet they brought death to millions of people: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945; the massacre at My Lai, in Vietnam in 1968; the bombing of Dresden by the Americans and British in the final months of the Second World War; the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War and the Nanking Massacre, also known as the 'Rape of Nanking'.
As if trying to fix the world’s sorrows, Yoko Ono repaired 6 cracked coffee cups with glue and golden paint and wrote the dates and places of the six catastrophic events that have affected the world on the saucers under each cup.
One of the cups refers to the tragedy that has directly affected her life: the day her husband John Lennon was murdered by Mark Chapman in December 1980, which she witnessed at close range. Other catastrophies indirectly affected Yoko Ono, yet they brought death to millions of people: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945; the massacre at My Lai, in Vietnam in 1968; the bombing of Dresden by the Americans and British in the final months of the Second World War; the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War and the Nanking Massacre, also known as the 'Rape of Nanking'.
Yoko Ono, mending cups, 2015. Photo credit www.illy.com
Each saucer bears a note "and mended in 2015" as if Yoko says that each tragedy has been fundamentally rethought by her in 2015. The seventh cup in the collection, Unbroken Cup, is untouched with no cracked or mended lines, reflecting peace and hope with Ono’s handwritten words on the saucer, "This cup will never be broken as it will be under your protection".
Mended Cups collection was inspired by the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi, a technique of repairing broken or cracked pottery using brushstrokes of gold and silver. Kintsugi follows a philosophy that treats the breakage and repair as part of the object’s history-an important and precious detail, rather than something to disguise.
Mended Cups collection was inspired by the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi, a technique of repairing broken or cracked pottery using brushstrokes of gold and silver. Kintsugi follows a philosophy that treats the breakage and repair as part of the object’s history-an important and precious detail, rather than something to disguise.
8. Mend Piece, 2015
Yoko Ono, Mend Piece. Photo by Blair Prentice of iheartmyart.com
Inspired by the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi as well, the Mend Piece was a part of the interactive installation done by Yoko Ono in 2015. The piece was first conceptualized by Ono back in 1966 to draw attention of the US politics to the anti-Vietnam War movements.
Its idea is in repairing shattered ceramics using the glue, tape, and string under the instructions from Yoko, "Mend with wisdom mend with love. It will mend the earth at the same time."
Metaphor of the participative project is a simple one: if you can fix a broken tea cup—a vessel that signifies sharing and community—you can begin to heal relationships.
Its idea is in repairing shattered ceramics using the glue, tape, and string under the instructions from Yoko, "Mend with wisdom mend with love. It will mend the earth at the same time."
Metaphor of the participative project is a simple one: if you can fix a broken tea cup—a vessel that signifies sharing and community—you can begin to heal relationships.
Yoko Ono, Mended Piece, 2015. Photo credit cdn.artobserved.com
While participants repair the pottery or make their own sculptures from broken fragments of tea cups, they not only 'mend the universe' but their own tumultuous life by warm conversations with each other at one table. Bonded by the communal experience of the work side by side, visitors get closer to each other. And this is a small yet important step towards a collected effort to mend the world.
Above: Participants of the Mend Piece doing their art pieces. Photo by Blair Prentice of iheartmyart.com
- One of the art pieces done by participants of the Mend Piece by Yoko Ono at the Andrea Rosen Gallery in Chelsea, 2016. Photo credit newexilesite.files.wordpress.com
- Shelves with mended pottery, Mend Piece by Yoko Ono at the Andrea Rosen Gallery in Chelsea, 2016. Photo credit newexilesite.files.wordpress.com
Finished pieces are displayed on white shelves along walls of the gallery. Countless numbers of unique sculptures that visitors piece together, surprise with novelty and creativity.
When participants are finished with their work, they can drink coffee from Ono’s Mended Cups set.
When participants are finished with their work, they can drink coffee from Ono’s Mended Cups set.
9. #smilesfilm, 1967-ongoing
"My ultimate goal in film-making is to make a film which includes a smiling face snap of every single human being in the world. Of course, I cannot go around the whole world and take the shots myself. I need cooperation…" announced Yoko Ono back in 1967.
Ono’s ongoing #smilesfilm project is a vision of mass participation inviting people to upload images of their smiles to Instagram and Twitter that are collected on the #smilesfilm website. The idea is to tap into the collective power of smiles, or as Yoko Ono put it, "Our smiles change moods and opinions as they radiate positive energy out into the world, creating joy, healing and peace, changing the Universe for the better… Each time we add our smiles to #smilesfilm, we are creating our future, together. Give us your smile!"
Ono’s ongoing #smilesfilm project is a vision of mass participation inviting people to upload images of their smiles to Instagram and Twitter that are collected on the #smilesfilm website. The idea is to tap into the collective power of smiles, or as Yoko Ono put it, "Our smiles change moods and opinions as they radiate positive energy out into the world, creating joy, healing and peace, changing the Universe for the better… Each time we add our smiles to #smilesfilm, we are creating our future, together. Give us your smile!"
Still from Film No. 5 by Yoko Ono, ‘SMILE' starring John Lennon. Photo credit facebook.com/yokoonopage.
Fifty years ago, Yoko Ono shot her 1968 film No. 5, commonly known as Smile. It featured Lennon in the garden of his home in Weybridge, England, as he looked into the camera, shifting between a straight face and a full-on smile.
Then Ono has done her 1971 piece "A Box of Smile." A conceptual artwork, it consists of a small plastic box, which reveals a mirror on the bottom when the viewer opens the lid. So, the viewer completes the piece upon seeing his or her reflection in the mirror, presumably smiling.
Left: Yoko Ono, A Box of Smile, 1971. Photo credit improvisedlife.com
The #smilesfilm project has obtained new momentum with the advent of the Internet. Started as a Flickr group in 2009, it originally consisted of a set of images of smiling faces collected at photo booths at art exhibits in Tokyo, Berlin and New Delhi.
Yoko Ono, #smilesfilm, 2012. A large-scale installation was part of Yoko Ono’s exhibition ‘To The Light‘, at the Serpentine Gallery, London in June 2012 as part of the London 2012 Festival.
Since 2012, Yoko Ono has invited everyone to upload images of their smiles to Instagram & Twitter, accompanied by the hashtag #smilesfilm, so that all of participants may enjoy the empowering sense of smiling together. #smilesfilm app for iOS was released the same year. Once a conceptual piece, the project has transformed into a digital manifestation of Ono’s long-envisioned idea.
Now users can look through uploaded snapshots geographically on a map, view them in a moving slideshow chronologically and take snapshots of their own smiling faces, which are collated into the app and placed on a map based on where the photo was taken.
Now users can look through uploaded snapshots geographically on a map, view them in a moving slideshow chronologically and take snapshots of their own smiling faces, which are collated into the app and placed on a map based on where the photo was taken.
Live statistics from #smilesfilm 2D map, 30 March 2018. Photo credit revolvermaps.com
"I say thank you, thank you, thank you, to all participants of this film. Thank you for having bothered to take your time to send your smile! This is a film that will give such a joy to the world, forever. Like the song, Imagine, this film should be put in a capsule and send it out to the stratosphere and to the Universe! Meanwhile, we will add this film to Imagine Peace Tower, together with the wishes coming from all over the world," #smilesfilm.com website cites Yoko Ono.
Written on materials of theculturetrip.com, The Real Yoko Ono film, moma.org, pers-www.wlv.ac.uk, uk.phaidon.com, mialondonblog.wordpress.com, swanngalleries.com, slate.com, madelinex.blogspot.com, chartattack.com, imaginepeacetower.com, illy.com, iheartmyart.com, dailymail.co.uk, exileonpainstreet.com, improvisedlife.com, smilesfilm.com and other sources.
