Yoko Ono - Mend Piece for LondonThe Mend piece for London was interesting to take be a part of. Following the instructions laid out in the artist commentary for the gallery the idea being to set intention while creating a creative response of how to mend the world. The space in which it is housed is a flow through space, so people wander through, sometimes joining the limited making sessions, we had booked in and so therefore new we had to make at a certain time, what interests me though is the reaction of others. People are drawn to create, to use their hands to make things. Once my husband had completed his piece and placed it onto the shelves another couple joined at the far end of the table, I am not sure they were aware of the piece but went on making and did not really seem to care for the space that was being made to have intention. They were noisy, brash, non-mask wearing individuals who seemed to be on for a day out, not really giving a shit about who was around them, keeping apart from them. I focused on my piece, listening to their conversation and how they could take all the pieces home, sell them on, just going through the motions like awkward teens. It seemed that the female wanted to do it but the partner wasn't so into it and hung by closely just playing on his phone waiting and expediting her experience to suit his. She bought into this and then started undermining her own experience. The next thing that happened was that one of the museum team then came and took the responses made by the participants on the shelves and swept them into a plastic box for reuse again by further participants, this evoked a sense of outrage in me, that I worked through, as if the piece was meaning less, that people had wanted to feel part of the exhibition piece but instead made there intention, placed it on the shelf and then it just got swept away. Fluxus - the art movement that Yoko Ono was once associated with suggests that this is part of the process, we make , things get broken, we remake, things get further swept away and broken and remade, however, what I noticed about myself was that I just wanted it to be noticed, what help is mending if that mending and the new way not acknowledged . It puts into play the world we live in , lots of talk, not a lot of listening, lots of doing not a lot of seeing. I think for a moment, I felt cheated, but the artist hadn't promised me anything so the issue with ego and whether the piece was good enough meant that although I had participated through choice, my ego also was present, and the larger issue that I had was that my headspace was angry for the disregard of the time and thought process that individuals had put in to responded to the issue at hand. I as you can see am still processing this. Do I like art like this? Did I miss the intention while I was present , in the way that Art is? soundcloud.com/whitechapel-gallery/hear-now-episode-11-yoko-ono-mend-piece-for-london 
The podcast accompaniment - talks of the brief bio of Yoko Ono, Fluxus and conceptual based art works through her instruction based art. Mend carefully/ think of mending the world at the same time Modori Yashimoto - post 1945 Japanese Art MAde concept that all works were unfinished without audience participation . 1960 instruction art - Words as art - conceptual Art but avoided institutionalised - everyone can be an artist and experience art making. Works that change and evolve in terms of the viewer himself - The Mending piece 1 - concepts that shown had developed over a few years of practice. Grapefruit. Use of instructions : give the reader complete freedom, it is mind play of exercise to expand your imagination, they are a form a of wish, Ono experience of looking into the sky and imagination was a key to survive difficult life situations. Since 60's has been shown different times and contexts. Yoko Ono WHG - mend the world - Mend peace 2001 - retrospective in MIT - it is not mending the cup as to what it is when you are mending it. to make the world more peaceful - activism - War is over if you want it - anti war and the way Mend piece for London is around ways in which they may mend the world today. SO _ the thought process and intention is the art piece. For me the piece used the string in a ordered manner to bind, the string and the glue were used to hold the porcelain in place, the sring a continual line strands as such to represent view pints pulling in the broken pieces and bringing them together in a new way, a way that had simplicity adn beauty, that was around intention , protection, functionality and beauty. IN essence the piece for mend took on board new ways of creating, but returned quite naturally to how I like to make with wire and string / thread in the past, although these pieces have not been as widely outspoken. This has led onto the thought of the creation of future pieces. Incorporating connective materials. Linking to the SF of Haraway which is something that is very intrinsic in my life, the connection of all things, physical, mental and emotively draws into question a higher order and question to myself. Why aren't you listening JO ? It brings in the big questions, is this how life is to be for you, superficial, and if that is not how you wish to live, what depth is it to let out and embrace. Back to the books.  Comments are closed.
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