The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is currently showcasing a retrospective exhibition on pioneering Japanese artist Yoko Ono. Presented in collaboration with London’s Tate Modern, YOKO ONO. MUSIC OF THE MIND charts Ono’s trailblazing artwork, music and activism from the 1950s to the present.
Located at the museum’s K20 location, the show includes over 200 works: from films and installations, to musical scores and photography, chronicling Ono’s participatory works, such as those that stem from the Fluxus movement, and the impact it still rings on generations of artists today.
Fluxus was founded by Lithuanian-American artist George Maciunas in the 1960s and merits experimental works that question the boundaries of what art can be. Ono fearlessly championed this burgeoning form of expression, once inviting audience members to tear away little fragments of her clothing as she sat silently on stage. “When I did Cut Piece,” Ono recalled, “I get in a trance, so I don’t feel too frightened.” There are several layers of meaning to her Cut Piece (1964) performance, reflecting on the objectification of women, as well as vulnerability and resilience. While in Wish Tree (1996), visitors were encouraged to write their dreams on a piece of paper and tie them to the branches of trees, which were gathered at the end and sent to the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland.
Despite being amongst the greatest artist’s of the past century, Ono’s oeuvre has long been coupled, and as a result, overshadowed, by her relationship to John Lennon, who she was a constant muse and collaborator with, and blamed for the Beatles’ breakup. Once dismissed as “odd”, Ono’s impact on freeing art from the shackles of tradition has steadily gained its rightful place within the canons of history decades on, inviting audience members to participate within her installations, as they ultimately hold the missing puzzle to extracting meaning from any artistic experience.
YOKO ONO. MUSIC OF THE MIND will be on view in Germany until March 16, 2025.
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen
Grabbepl. 5,
40213 Düsseldorf, Germany
