It is pretty thrilling to have Yoko Ono in Sydney right now. She is here to speak at the Opera House and also to open her survey exhibition, entitled War is Over (if you want it) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. The exhibition which runs until Feb 23, 2014 encompasses sculpture, installation, film and performance.
Much of the show is participatory. This maze is made out of acrylic or glass and at the centre is a telephone with the words "if the phone rings you know it is me". Unfortunately the phone didn't ring when I was in there but it had rung the day before. There weren't any members of the public there at the time but a gallery staff person answered the phone and was very pleased to say hello to Yoko.
This installation is made out of helmets filled with puzzle pieces of a sky. This relates to Yoko's childhood when she witnessed the atomic bomb falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She was a young girl at the time and she and her siblings were sent to the countryside for their own safety. The children spent a great deal of time looking at the sky and the sky has been an ongoing theme in Yoko's work. The public are invited to take a puzzle piece from the helmets.
This exhibition includes Yoko's work from the 1960's up until artwork from the 2000's. It also includes pieces done for Australia and this particular show. One of these is 6 lemon scented eucalyptus trees plus tags that viewers are encouraged to affix to the branches. This piece recalls the Shinto temple trees of Yoko's childhood.
