yoko ono at serpentine gallery

yoko ono: to the light serpentine gallery, london, england on now until september 9th, 2012

yoko ono’s impact upon the field of contemporary art, as understood over the course of fifty years is reflected upon in the installation ‘to the light’. the major retrospective of her portfolio is displayed in serpentine gallery located in london, england. the comprehensive exhibition of the japanese artist, writer, film-maker, performance artist, musician, poet and peace activist’s many artistic ventures. pieces on show in ‘to the light’ include selections from ono’s film, sculpture, and photographic explorations ranging in origin from the earlier actualizations by the artist to her most recent projects completed in 2012. ‘to the light’ is an assemblage of works which speak to yoko ono’s continued efforts in furthering creative efforts in her various fields of influence.

the artist’s works are on display as part of the london 2012 festival— a twelve-week celebration of artists residing all over the globe, to coincide with united kingdom-wide creative events, to end on the final day of the london paralympic games in the beginning of september 2012.

‘to the light’ features a collection of pieces in which ono calls upon the viewer to engage with the artworks. in ‘AMAZE’, the artist attempts to forge a relationship between the viewer and the sculpture by asking he or she to complete an instruction sheet for the work. in this way, the exchange for both ono and the gallery goer becomes an evolving entity.

yoko onosmile film no. 5 1968 © yoko ono

yoko onosmile 2010 © yoko ono

yoko ono’s work entitled ‘#smilesfilm‘ is a worldwide participatory project in which she has recruited anyone with internet access to connect with the collective work by sending in a still of their smiling face. individuals would upload their photo to a social media site, hashtagging ‘smilesfilm’ to their image so that all of these global contributions will be archived in one particular place. the artist aims to have the images of these people from all over the world included in a film which displays a snap shot of ‘every single human being in the world’.

visitors to the serpentine gallery may enter into a specially-designed photo booth located just outside the art space to document their smiles. the collection of images will be added to #smilesfilm piece, as each of the photos captured will be exhibited on a screen within the gallery space as well as being shown on the website of the organization and apps for iphone and ipad.

yoko onosmile 2010 © yoko ono

smiles film

‘my ultimate goal in film-making is to make a film which includes a smiling face snap of every single human being in the world. of course, I cannot go around the whole world and take the shots myself. I need cooperation…‘ -yoko ono, 1967

yoko ono with her installation: sky ladders 2007 in her exhibition sognare, museo di santa caterina, treviso, italy photo by stephan crasneanscki/©yoko ono