A blog dedicated to Yoko Ono.
By Cara (thecurvature)
See also:
Fuck Yeah John & Yoko
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Photo reblogged from MASCARA DE CERA with 11 notes
SKY PIECE FOR JESUS CHRIST: A night with Yoko Ono
February 13, 2013
Dominican Monastery
Frankfurt, Germany
By Nadja SayejEveryone was star struck. Everyone. The security guards, the audience, the bar staff, the TV cameramen – even the journalists. Yoko Ono was in calm center of an admiring audience in German’s financial capital, Frankfurt.
Bankers from the nearby skyscrapers gathered alongside curators in coloured pantyhose in the wooden seats of an old monastery, crowned with a Christian cross. There was a busy crowd making their way into the old building, with many dressed in shiny patent shoes, chunky orange jewellery and black-rimmed glasses. Old women with long, bleached hair stood ready with their cameras. Fans in Beatles sweaters brought Yoko’s Grapefruit book to be signed. Young intellectual types leaned against the wall, blaze, as if in the walls of Hunter College. Everyone was here to see Sky Piece for Jesus Christ.
The live performance was created in collaboration with the Schirn Kunsthalle (you might remember their Jeff Koons show), which is hosting the Half-A-Wind Show, the biggest European retrospective of Ono’s conceptual work since the 1960s. She came to Germany to mount the show, the performance and to celebrate her 80th birthday in Berlin.
Sky Piece was first shown it in 1965 at Carnegie Hall. Eleven young musicians from the Young German Philharmonic were wrapped in gauze as they played short classical pieces – until they could no longer play. They didn’t struggle, they just stopped, blinded by gauze wrapped around the necks of their instruments, their eyes, their mouths, legs and everything in between. No surprise then Yoko came deep from the avant-garde scenes where the Fluxus kids would hang out (she was the only girl). John Cage was sometimes referred to as ‘JC’ or Jesus Christ as a leading cult figure in the avant-garde music scene; some might say he was celebrated “like Jesus.”
Now, almost 50 years later, Ono is the celebrated religious figure.
Photo reblogged from MASCARA DE CERA with 22 notes
Sky Piece was first shown it in 1965 at Carnegie Hall. Eleven young musicians from the Young German Philharmonic were wrapped in gauze as they played short classical pieces – until they could no longer play. They didn’t struggle, they just stopped, blinded by gauze wrapped around the necks of their instruments, their eyes, their mouths, legs and everything in between. No surprise then Yoko came deep from the avant-garde scenes where the Fluxus kids would hang out (she was the only girl). John Cage was sometimes referred to as ‘JC’ or Jesus Christ as a leading cult figure in the avant-garde music scene; some might say he was celebrated “like Jesus.”
Now, almost 50 years later, Ono is the celebrated religious figure. The short, bony and radiating Ono entered the room raising both arms doing the peace sign. She was wearing her traditional all-black outfit, black slightly bell bottom pants with a sheer black button-up shirt with a tank top underneath. A black hat was tilted to the left side of her head and she wore her trademark black sunglasses, smiling with no makeup. The audience burst into applause.
There were six bodyguards in the front row. Two, which follow her everywhere, and four others to make sure people don’t take pictures during the performance – there was a clearly instructed sign outside. One official photographer was assigned to take the pictures for the night, and there would be no competition.
The blonde curator, Ingrid Pfeiffer took the stage to introduce the performance, almost bursting into tears in humble honour.The performance starts. The young group of musicians stepped onto the stage and started to play a familiar classical piece. While they’re playing, eight women in all-black came out from backstage and began wrapping the musicians in gauze bandages.
The audience laughs, here and there, as the musicians tried to play while being wrapped in bandages. Over the course of thirty minutes, all the gauze from the nearby side tables was gone. The musicians almost could have continued to play, breaking the barrier from classical to experimental musicianship, but they didn’t. They gave up. Their instruments fell to a hush and they were lifted offstage by Yoko and her handlers.
After the show, Yoko got onstage to make a wall painting on paper with large Japanese characters (the floor was dotted with ink). She then explained why a broken German vase was sitting in a pile on the floor – the crowd was each to each grab a piece of the vase. “We’ll all meet back here in 10 years to put the vase together,” she said.
“Please take one piece of a shattered vase, keep it for goodness and put it together,” said Yoko. “It has life. People create a possible life and with such pieces, shattered grey. It will become an incredible thing for all of us.”
“I love you very much,” were her last words. She leaned her head down and got off the stage.
Cool, Yoko. See you in 2023.
Photoset reblogged from YES with 121 notes
Yoko Ono attends the opening of David Croland Exhibit on November 13, 1973 at Artworks Gallery in New York City.
Previously unseen frames!!!
Post reblogged from Finding My Creative Side with 4 notes
Yoko Ono’s Pamplemousse - Critical Reflection
rachsjourneythruthecreativearts:
The extracts of Pamplemousse from Japanese-born, American Citizen Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit are challenging pieces of art. The French term Pamplemousse is an adopted word from the Dutch language which refers to the Tamil word bambolmas. A citrus fruit that has striking resemblance to that of a grapefruit, it is an allegory for the title of Ono’s 1964 piece.
Many of Ono’s works were associated with George Maciunas’ group Fluxus. A society composed of dada-inspired avant-garde artists; it was developed in the early 1960s. John Cage has been credited as one of Ono’s most important influences on her performance art. It was her connection with Ichiyanagi Toshi, a student of Cage’s exceptional lessons of experimental composition that would introduce Ono to the art forms of Cage and his protégés.
Ono’s poetry in Pamplemousse is considered to be instructions to the reader. They obviously cannot be taken literally but instead compel the reader to use their imagination to complete the commands given. Her technique crafts an original kind of imagery that triggers the mind to think in a new way. Ono’s guidelines are more complex than just telling the reader to, for example, run around in a circle. She uses active verbs to force the reader consider something unexpected. These unexpected images aren’t characterised by ornamental or lyrical language; they are solid, frank and simple.
Some aspects of Pamplemousse evoke your thoughts in a direction that you would not normally take when given the chance to read an abstract piece of literature. Ono’s Smell Piece I & II are perfect examples of this. Ono asks the reader to “Send the smell of the moon” (1953 autumn) or “Send a smell to the room.” (1962 winter) These two instructions are clearly impossible things to do, however it arouses a notion that maybe one day we will be able to send a smell to the moon. Others can act as a vessel of inspiration to view the world around you and to explore the world around you in a different light. Asking someone to “Draw a map to get lost” (1964 spring) sparks a contradiction in that maps are used to find yourself; short of taking a wrong turn and deviating from your map, one cannot get lost; although that may be what Ono is asking you to do. And other sections of the literature really makes you question Ono’s sanity; “Stir inside of your brains with a penis/Until things are mixed well/Take a walk.” (Walk Piece, 1961 winter)
Some of my beloved poems are those in which time is concerned, such as the multiple Clock Pieces. Ono say, in one of the finest metaphors from Pamplemousse, “Steal all the clocks and watches/In the world/Destroy them.” No one could possibly get their hands on all the clocks within the world and destroy them, but that particular image portrays eternal history. Of all the sunrises, sunsets, good and bad weather, human life, growth, death, and wisdom that has developed over time that time has experienced, Ono forces the reader to try and hear something that is often seen. Thus, Ono gives the reader adequate shape to direct their thinking but also allowing space for her words to be openly interpreted. Readers can effortlessly impose their knowledge of what something sounds like or what a particular action feels like.
Pamplemousse and Grapefruit for that matter, is perfect for people who enjoy collections that are highly stimulating to the senses but can’t stand traditional flowery poetry. Ono’s metaphors create the same types of imagery without delicate language. Still her poetry sounds lyrical because of the way in which readers can interpret it. Much can be learned from Yoko Ono’s approach to imagery.
Photo reblogged from the beatles with 47 notes
“What a small room! John was looking at the world from this room…A boy with a small room and a big dream… It choked us up thinking of what his dream did for the world… yoko”
Photo reblogged from with 31 notes
cmov:
yoko ono - echo telephone piece, from grapefruit
(going to start semi-regularly posting excerpts from grapefruit, which is a beautiful collection of her work. equal parts cheerful, hilarious, heartbreaking, and reflective.)
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