Yoko Ono is an experimental artist and musician born in Tokyo in 1933. Her early career involved avant-garde performance art pieces in the 1960s that often demanded participation from audiences, such as her famous 1964 work "Cut Piece" where audience members cut away her clothing. She met her second husband John Lennon in 1966 and they collaborated creatively until his death in 1980. Ono's conceptual art focuses on audience interaction and challenging expectations through provocative ideas and acts.

1. Yoko Ono
Experimental Artist and Musician

2. Biography
 Yoko Ono (whose first name translates to "ocean
child") was born on February 18th, 1933 in Tokyo, the
eldest of three children born to Eisuke and Isoko, a
wealthy aristocratic family.
 When Yoko was 18, her father was appointed
president of a bank in New York as the family settled
in. Attending the prestigious Sarah Lawrence College
in New York, Yoko dropped out to elope with her first
husband, Toshi Ichiyanagi. It was while living in New
York's artsy Greenwich Village that Yoko discovered
the world of avant-garde artists. Once absorbed in
the scene, she began her life long association with
art beginning with informal events then segueing into
poetry while developing her fascination for
conceptual pieces. Alienated as an "artistic radical"
for years her work was ridiculed or ignored.

3. Biography
 That began to change once she began her
working relationship with American jazz
musician/film producer Anthony Cox, the
man who would eventually become her
second husband.
 Cox financed and helped coordinate her
"interactive conceptual events" in the early
60's. According to the artist these events;
"Demanded a response and some input
from the observer rather than answering all
the questions”.

4. Biography
 Her most famous piece was
the Cut piece staged in
1964, where the audience
was invited to cut off pieces
of her clothing until she was
naked, an abstract
commentary on discarding
materialism (i.e. disguises)
for the natural (i.e. the
real)underneath. Yoko's
work often demands the
viewers' participation and
forces them to get involved.
The piece was repeated. This is the first, in
1964. We will be studying this in detail.

5. Biography
 The marriage between Ono and Cox was a
tempestuous liaison that produced one child--a
daughter named Kyoko who was born on August
8, 1963. By this time, Yoko was heavily influenced
by the extended and repeated image work of
Andy Warhol, Dali inspired surrealism and
Dadaesque absurdity. The latter is clearly evident
in events such as having her audience pay a
shilling to hammer a nail in a board--a satirical jab
at consumerism. The notoriety of Yoko's events, as
well as her involvement with the radical 60's avant
garde art collective, Fluxus created an interest of
her works in the United Kingdom. This interest
precipitated her visit to England in 1967.

6. Biography
 Yoko's life forever changed when she met Beatle
John Lennon at an exhibit of her work at the Indica
gallery in London. Lennon, in addition to being a
pop culture icon, was also one of the most brilliant
creative minds of all time, with an art school
background. The mental stimulation between the
two developed into a strong friendship which
eventually blossomed into romance as well as a
creative marriage.
 By 1968, their affair was public as both of their
marriages disintegrated. After the collapse of her
marriage to Cox, he "kidnapped" their daughter
during a weekend custody visit. To this day, Yoko
has not seen her long lost daughter Kyoko nor is she
aware of her whereabouts.

7. Biography
 . The "Ballad of John & Yoko" has been well chronicled. Until his untimely
assassination in 1980, Lennon and Yoko enjoyed the ideal symbiotic
relationship. Through each other, they enjoyed newer creative avenues to
explore. Through Yoko, John collaborated on many art and film works. While
Yoko's association with Lennon allowed her to find a unique voice with her
avant-garde music which blended traditional Japanese music with ‘primal
scream’ inspired wailing that created a most abstract soundscape.
 Click the below links to listen to Yoko Ono jamming with The Beatles, and
then giving a ‘primal scream’ performance at a gallery.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qm7bCtBCgI
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZ9weP5i68

8. Art Practice
 Yoko Ono’s work is extremely experimental and is heavily
conceptually based.
 She uses performance, sculpture, installation, calligraphy, etc. all
to convey profound meaning to her audience.
 She draws upon her Japanese heritage, as well as her life
experiences.
 Lets look in depth at her performance piece Cut piece, and
analyse it in relation to our Gender Topic.

9. Cut piece (1964)
 This piece was performed in
Kyoto, Tokyo, New York and
London. It is usually performed by
Yoko Ono coming on the stage
and in a sitting position, placing a
pair of scissors in front of her and
asking the audience to come up
on the stage, one by one, and
cut a portion of her clothing
(anywhere they like) and take it.
The performer, however, does not
have to be a woman.
Click below to view a small
snippet of the original perform
captured on film and uploaded
as a YouTube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=lYJ3dPwa2tI

10. Artist Statement about Cut Piece
 Traditionally, the artist’s ego is in the artist’s work. In other words,
the artist must give the artist’s ego to the audience. I had always
wanted to produce work without ego in it. I was thinking of this
motif more and more, and the result of this was Cut Piece.
Instead of giving the audience what the artist chooses to give,
the artist gives what the audience chooses to take. That is to say,
you cut and take whatever part you want; that was my feeling
about its purpose. It is a form of giving that has a lot to do with
Buddhism.

11. Artist Statement about Cut Piece
 There’s a small allegorical story about Buddha.
He left his castle with his wife and children and
was walking towards a mountain to go into
meditation. As he was walking along, a man
said that he wanted Buddha’s children because
he wanted to sell them or something. So Buddha
gave him his children. Then someone said he
wanted Buddha’s wife and he gave him his
wife. Someone calls that he is cold, so Buddha
gives him his clothes. Finally a tiger comes along
and says he wants to eat him and Buddha lets
the tiger eat him. And in the moment the tiger
eats him, it became enlightened. 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.”

12. Artist Statement about Cut Piece
 In the Sixties clothes were very important to me because I had so
few. But when I performed Cut Piece I always made sure to wear
my best suit. It was the total offering. I lost my best suit every time
I performed the piece. To think that it would be OK to use the
cheapest clothes because it was going to be cut anyway would
be wrong; it’s against my intentions. I was poor at the time, and it
was hard. This event I repeated in several different places, and
my wardrobe got smaller and smaller. However, when I sat on
stage in front of the audience, I felt that this was my genuine
contribution. This is how I really felt.

13. Artist Statement about Cut Piece
 The audience was quiet and still, and I felt that everyone was holding their
breath. While I was doing it, I was staring into space. I felt kind of like I was
praying. I also felt that I was willingly sacrificing myself. It wasn’t a feminist
issue, per se. It has to do with the positive and negative side of giving, but
we can make it positive. And the funny thing was, most people thought of
the other side, which is the body being violated. But when this piece was
performed by Charlotte Moorman in a nunnery, the nuns said, “Well, this is
what we’re doing.” They bypassed the sexual connotation totally and just
understood the philosophical connotation and the positive side, which was
to be giving. When I went to London – swinging London, at the time – the
minute I put the scissors in front of me, 20 people came up on the stage and
made me totally naked. Oops! It depends on the audience really; it’s a
dialogue between me and the audience. It always draws something out of
people. At Carnegie Hall, it seemed to draw violence out of the audience,
like a poison. It is a frightening piece to perform. Very tense, but I wanted to
show that we have to trust each other. If I’m going to say that, I have to do
it myself. I have to trust people myself. It could be a bit dangerous.

14. Marina Abramovic
 Marina Abramovic is an artist who also engaged in
performance art that hinged itself upon audience
interaction, however there were no instructions given in
this piece. Instead, the audience was only presented with
a table of objects, some representing pain, and others
pleasure.
 Click below to view a small talk on the piece.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwPTKmFcYAQ

15. Artist Statement about Cut Piece
 I did Cut Piece again in Paris in
2003. The difference from 1965
was people were much more
scared for me. Sean, who
doesn’t come to my
performances as much, flew all
the way to Paris, and stood on
the side of the audience to
protect me. That was sweet.
My friends said to me: you
need a bodyguard, but my
principle was that we have to
trust each other. In Cut Piece I
ask people to come on stage
and each cut off one piece of
my clothing. This time I asked
that they send that piece of
clothes to the person they love.
 When I did it in 1965 I did it as a woman
confronting turbulence and anger, and I
was communicating just with a small
group of people – mostly artists and
intellectuals. Last time, it was anybody. It
was a wider audience. I did it with love
for the world and you and me. If you
can carry some feeling of love for each
other, that’s very important.

16. Audience, Artist & Artwork
 Was Yoko Ono’s work Cut piece intended to be a feminist performance?
 How did you read or interpret the work when you first saw it?
 Do you believe the work can still be interpreted with a feminist reading?
 What was the role of the audience, and how can it can interpreted?
 Homework: Using the Conceptual Framework, analyse an Ono piece of
your choice.