Yoko Ono
Half-A-Wind Show. A Retrospective
February 15–May 12, 2013
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
Römerberg, D-60311 Frankfurt
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Yoko Ono is one of the most influential artists of our time. In honor of the 80th birthday of the artist, who was born in Tokyo on February 18, 1933, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting an extensive retrospective from February 15 to May 12, 2013. The exhibition will feature a comprehensive survey of the multifaceted universe of this extraordinary artist, who is regarded as a pioneer of early conceptual, film and performance art as well as a key figure in the world of music, the peace movement and feminism, who continues to play an influential role in current developments in art. Some 200 objects, films, spatial installations, photographs, drawings and textual pieces as well as a special music room will shed light on the diverse media landscape of Ono’s art and the central themes of her oeuvre. The retrospective devotes particular attention to Yoko Ono’s works from the 1960s and 1970s. It features, among other exhibits, such groundbreaking works as the Instructions for Paintings, first exhibited in 1961 and 1962; the performance Cut Piece (1964); and her book Grapefruit, published in 1964. Yoko Ono has also developed a new work—the installation and performance Moving Mountains—specifically for the exhibition in Frankfurt.
Yoko Ono. Half-A-Wind Show. A Retrospective—the title of which refers to an exhibition of Ono’s art at the Lisson Gallery in London in 1967—will also feature several installations from the 1990s to the present alongside many important earlier works by Yoko Ono. One such relatively recent work is Balance Piece (1997), for which the artist wrote the corresponding instruction in 1958. For Water Event, which is also exhibited in Frankfurt, Ono invited other artists to provide containers which she can then fill with water (or imaginary water). Other such cooperative actions include Wish Tree, which is presented in the foyer of the Schirn, as well as actions carried out in the city of Frankfurt, in which large billboards call upon viewers to DREAM, TOUCH or FEEL. The installation Morning Beams (1996/97) will be presented in the rotunda of the Schirn. In this work, ropes suspended from high above the floor symbolize rays of sunlight.
Yoko Ono, who was born in Japan and spent her childhood in both Japan and the U.S., is regarded as one of the pioneers of Conceptual Art. In 1952, she became the first woman ever admitted to Gakushūin University in Tokyo as a student of philosophy. She went on shortly thereafter to study composition and creative writing in the United States. Later on, she moved to New York, where she became a protagonist in the avant-garde scene associated with such musicians as John Cage, Fluxus founder George Maciunas, and the filmmaker Jonas Mekas. Having helped pave the way for the socially critical art of the 1960s, Yoko Ono quickly attained recognition as an artist who played an instrumental role in the birth and formal development of performance and conceptual art. Later, in collaboration with her husband John Lennon, with whom she took part in numerous sessions and musical projects until his violent death, Ono herself advanced to the status of a world-famous pop legend and continues to work on music projects under various pseudonyms even today. Yoko Ono has also demonstrated her commitment to environmental protection, peace, and human rights in numerous public actions.
Director: Max Hollein. Curator: Dr. Ingrid Pfeiffer.
Press contact: Axel Braun (head Press/Public Relations), T (+49-69) 29 98 82-153 / F (+49-69) 29 98 82-240 / presse [at] schirn.de / www.schirn.de (texts, images, and films for download under PRESS).
