For years,
Yoko Ono’s celebrity status obscured her role as a Conceptual art pioneer. But
in
the last 25 years or so, she’s reinvigorated her artistic career with
exhibitions at the
Whitney Museum of Art
and, most recently, at
the Museum of Modern Art.
Since then, the
82-year-old has been busy with her latest project,
a double exhibition of three interactive installations at Galerie Lelong
and Andrea Rosen Gallery in Chelsea. Recently, Ono discussed the motivation behind the works with
Time Out New York, while also relaying her newfound passion for social media.
You’ve
titled your two-space show, “The Riverbed.” Why?
This
particular riverbed is the one between life and death. We’re standing on this
side and are thinking about what happens
on the other. You can’t ignore
it because we’re all
going to be
dead one day.
Viewers are
asked to participate in different ways, including one instance when they’re
instructed to pick up a stone from a pile and put it in their laps. What’s the
point there?
They’re
stones from a riverbed, which is where the show’s title comes from. Each is
inscribed with a word that came to me: DREAM, LOVE, GIVE, IMAGINE, HUG, WISH.
They all require action, which in this case means giving all of your emotion to
the stone. So you pick one up and meditate for as long as you want according to
what’s written on it.
