MCLC: Yoko Ono exhibit in Beijing

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Yoko Ono exhibit in Beijing
Source: China Real Time, WSJ (11/19/15
Come Together: Yoko Ono Says China and Japan Should Make Love, Not War
By Olivia Geng
>From World War II history to maritime disputes, the list of conflicts between China and its neighbor Japan is long and at times vexing – but to hear Yoko Ono tell it, there’s no need for such bad blood between the two Asian rivals.
“Japanese and Chinese are both very intelligent people; instead of using their intelligence to fight with each other, it’s better to get together,” the 82-year-old artist and musician said last weekend at the opening of her first solo exhibition in Beijing.
“I don’t think the world wants that,” she added. “The world wants us to always be fighting, so we are weak. But we have to know that they are trying to trick us.”
Ms. Ono is well-known for being a voice for love and peace, ever since the days of her 1969 “Bed-Ins for Peace” with her husband, The Beatles’ John Lennon, in protest against the Vietnam War.
Yet her new “Golden Ladders” show at Beijing’s Faurschou Foundation gallery marks the first time in seven years that Ms. Ono has brought that message to China. Her last solo exhibition in the country was in Shanghai in 2008.
At an event marking the show’s opening, Ms. Ono, who was born in Japan and grew up there during World War II, was frequently effusive about China. She told of reading China’s classic “History of Three Kingdoms” when she was only nine or ten years old; what fascinated her most was not the battles but instead the way the characters used their brains and imagination to overcome their opponents, she said.
“That really affected my whole life,” Ms. Ono said, adding: “Japan is so near to China. We get everything from you. We are very, very thankful with special love.”
Ms. Ono’s Beijing show, a mix of her old and new works, is infused with Chinese elements. One art piece, “We Are All Water,” comprises 118 glass jars filled with water. Each jar is labeled in Chinese characters with the name of a famous person. The names include Chinese cultural and political giants such as traditional philosopher Laozi, author Cao Xueqin and Chairman Mao Zedong as well as non-Chinese figures such as Andy Warhol, Ernest Hemingway, Ms.Ono herself – and Adolf Hitler.
“When I made this work, it shocked me,” Ms. Ono said. “Am I saying that Hitler is as same as peaceful people, and we are all water? And I told myself, yes. Once we know that, we can surrender to this situation. Surrender is very important, surrender is much more important than fight.”
Another of Ms. Ono’s works includes seven ladders, three of which come from various regions of China. One was used by a farmer in north China for 35 years; another comes from south China and is made of bamboo.
“Through these ladders, Yoko wants to make viewers think of their own ladders of life — how to climb them, what they can see and feel from the ladders,” curator Zhang Xiaohua said.
The show has also presented Ms. Ono with an opportunity to display the unconventional style that is synonymous with her name. After a welcome speech by the Faurschou Foundation’s founder at the weekend’s press conference, Ms. Ono — who was clad in a black suit, dark sunglasses and a blue Homburg hat — abruptly grabbed a microphone and stood up.
“Can I say something?” she said. “Today, I came here so that you can hear the voice of a woman.”
With that, she launched into an impromptu series of shouts and howls lasting more than one minute.
“Ahhhhh! Ohh!” she screamed, as the photographers’ camera shutters clicked. “Wow! Yiyaaaaah!!”
“Golden Ladders” runs through July 3, 2016.
by denton.2 at osu.edu on November 21, 2015
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