Ahead Of Her Time
Yoko Ono has been at the cutting edge of the avant-garde for half a century. Here, in a rare interview, she discusses success, social media, and the status quo with Julia Peyton-Jones.
n 1970, John Lennon described his wife Yoko Ono as “the world’s most famous unknown artist”. Today, she is widely recognised as one of the most continuously inspiring talents in contemporary art. Her work is at once intellectual, avant-garde, emotional, and accessible, and continues to resonate decades after its creation. The performance-based Cut Piece, 1964, in which the audience was invited to use scissors to snip away her clothing, was a bold exploration of feminism and the role the female body plays in art. Grapefruit, her book of aphoristic poetry also published in 1964, now translates perfectly to Twitter, through which she communicates regularly with her 5.1 million followers. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden hosted a concert last September to celebrate Ono’s contribution to performance art, commemorating the 10th anniversary of her Wish Tree for Washington, DC artwork—a version of which was displayed at the Serpentine Gallery in 2012. Here, Ono talks to the Serpentine’s former director Julia Peyton-Jones about creativity, rebellion, and revolution. Julia Peyton-Jones: We got to know each other when, together with Hans-Ulrich [Obrist], we curated your exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in 2012. The show was a sensation, and extremely well attended, gathering many positive reviews. Am I right in saying that the warm reception your work received in the UK was a new experience for you? Yoko Ono: That was the first time in many years I felt that the English audience expressed their good feelings about my work. But actually starting in 1966 when I landed in London, there was a tremendous welcome to me by intellectuals. So years later, to receive another tremendous welcome was fantastic. JP-J: It’s been half a century since your film Bottoms was banned from being shown at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Early in 2017, it was screened for the first time at the very place where it was banned. At the time you told the Evening Standard (April 1967) that you were “so depressed” that you couldn’t “function right”. How do you feel now that the film has been screened? YO: The first time around too I was thinking that they would totally dislike the film. I was a rebel and that thought did not disturb me. But on the contrary, it seemed like many people loved the film. I’m surprised it’s loved today, I think it’s still getting a laugh. JP-J: You grew up as part of a wealthy, well-to-do family in Japan, before choosing to forge your own artistic path. How do you think your childhood and subsequent rejection of life in Japan shaped your decision to be an artist, and how did this influence the art that you went on to create? YO: My creative work had a very hard time actually. It was always—they were laughing but there was a suggestion that a stone could be thrown. My upbringing was done by quite sophisticated parents who loved [Arnold] Schoenberg and [Alban] Berg kind of composers. They didn’t mind high art, but at the same time they would have loved it if I played Mozart. JP-J: You’ve described yourself as extremely rebellious. What of your early life do you bring to your work and how have rebellion and revolution informed what you do? YO: I thought it was rather vulgar to be with all the ladies who were wearing mink coats. I hated it from the beginning. Rebellion is something that’s always been there, naturally.
JP-J: You were the first woman to read philosophy at Gakushuin University in Tokyo and then worked in New York in an art scene that was very male-dominated, carving out your place. What message would you like to convey to women now and in the future? YO: Believe in yourself and you will change the world. JP-J: The breadth of your work is extraordinary, whether as a curator or musician, or as an artist embracing language, performance, sculpture, installations, film, and video, among other media. You have put yourself at immense personal risk: from fighting racism and sexism, campaigning for peace or through your performance art (as we can see in Cut Piece). Where does your courage come from and are there any instances in your life that you can point to that have made you the person you are today? YO: I don’t really know what made me go through this kind of life. Almost nothing was done with the idea to become important. It came naturally to me to be hated by men, but there are nice people too amongst men. But what I have done, by looking back at it, you can say that accidentally, it was important. For me and for my friends, for the world. JP-J: On display at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC earlier this year was Sky TV for Washington, DC, 1966: one of the first works to use the instant capability of video—your comment on technology’s replacement of nature. How do you keep your creative vision fresh and connected to global audiences of all ages? YO: I do not try to, I’m “just talking to the universe”. JP-J: “Artists are going to be the metronome of this society.” What do you mean by this, and how do you think the role of artists has changed? YO: There is the metronome in each one of us, not only artists. Some artists don’t even notice it. Some artists do. I’d like to think that the next world will be created by all of us with a very fine metronome. JP-J: Many cite you as an influence on their work or career: for example, Jeff Koons and Sam Taylor-Johnson, among numerous others. You were friends with Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Peggy Guggenheim, and, pivotally, there was your partnership with John Lennon. Who inspires you? YO: I don’t remember admiring any artist and couldn’t say that I love any. What inspires me most is nature that surrounds us and nature that does not surround us. JP-J: You’re active on social media and your Twitter feed is full of visionary messages such as: “True love. You can’t kill true love”/“Telepathy exists, whether you believe it or not”/“John’s idea— to stamp the word PEACE on everything we can— worked very well this year, and is still working. I am very happy.”/“Don’t try to educate anybody about feminism by words, unless they ask for it. They will learn from the kind of feminist you are in real life.” You have embraced social media as another way to communicate. What is there about it that you find so compelling? YO: It communicates so quickly to so many. When you read Grapefruit there are instructions for pieces where you can see I envisioned a life like that already. JP-J: You’re the co-producer of a film about your life with John Lennon. I’m sure many people think they are familiar with your past with John, but is there an untold story here? YO: Many, many, many untold stories. JP-J: What do you see for the future and what are the things that excite you? YO: It excites me that the young generation is very wise. And I include myself in that.