{"id":363340,"date":"2026-06-16T21:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/363340\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T21:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:56:09","slug":"yoko-onos-music-of-the-mind-transforms-the-broad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/363340\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoko Ono\u2019s \u2018Music of the Mind\u2019 Transforms The Broad"},"content":{"rendered":"

A deeper look into The Broad\u2019s newest exhibit highlighting the Japanese countercultural artist<\/p>\n

While most recognize Yoko Ono as an attachment of the four-person worldwide phenomenon of The Beatles, the Japanese creative was a well-accomplished artist in her own right. The Broad\u2019s new exhibit \u201cYoko Ono: Music of the Mind,\u201d<\/a> curated by Juliet Bingham, is just the testament to that. The museum opened its doors for Ono\u2019s exhibit on May 11, being Ono\u2019s first solo museum exhibition in Southern California.<\/p>\n

The most enticing and unique aspect of the exhibit is its interactive nature between art and audience, especially in an age where museum staff generally enforce a strict rule of viewing distance. Ever the countercultural revolutionary, Ono challenges the way we, as audiences, see art, supporting the idea that art is meant to be touched, seen from different perspectives and even destroyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The exhibit highlights the iconic 1964 artwork \u201cCut Piece,\u201d a performance by Ono where she kneels on the stage motionless, inviting the audience to cut her clothes with scissors and keep a piece. The conceptual art was first performed in Yamaichi Concert Hall in Kyoto, Japan. It symbolizes an act of giving, taking and trust, according to Bingham, and the participatory element is important in subverting the relationship between artist and audience. Ono would often choose her best clothes for this performance.<\/p>\n

\"Yoko\"YokoImages of Yoko Ono\u2019s \u201cCut Piece\u201d PerformanceCredit: Stephanie Ahn<\/p>\n

Consequently, in 1966, Ono was the only woman invited to an international symposium in London that featured these same elements of destruction in art and society. Unlike her male counterparts who destroyed art aggressively, Ono performed this piece in a poignant fashion to display the ebb and flow of impermanence.<\/p>\n

Other participatory installations that viewers can recreate in the exhibit include hammering nails into a communal board, drawing your shadow in pen and stepping on artwork.<\/p>\n

Her 1964 \u201cBag Piece\u201d was another interactive artwork that had viewers chuckling in almost disbelief at the absurdity of the performance. Ono invites one or two participants to drape themselves in a cotton fabric bag and perform any activity that can include dancing, meditating or flailing around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Yoko\"YokoAudiences are encouraged to enact Yoko Ono \u201cBag Piece\u201dCredit: Stephanie Ahn<\/p>\n

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\u201cBy being in a bag, you show the other side of you, which has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with sex, nothing to do with age. [Y]ou become just a spirit or soul,\u201d Ono said, \u201cI like that idea. To become something totally different.\u201d<\/p>\n

A defining component of Ono\u2019s art was her upbringing, which she often showcased in her art. As a child, Ono was forced to leave her home during World War II. \u201cSKY TV\u201d (1966) is a live broadcast on a television screen of the sky above the work\u2019s location, representing the escapism and limitless freedom she and her brother imagined during childhood. Ono described this as \u201cmaybe my first piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yoko\"YokoYoko Ono\u2019s \u201cSKY TV\u201d pieceCredit: Stephanie Ahn<\/p>\n

Ono\u2019s childhood would go on to define her future calls for peace and protests against the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Alongside former husband John Lennon, Ono staged Bed-Ins for Peace in 1969, where they used publicity from their marriage to promote an end to the war. Lennon and Ono also sent acorns to 96 world leaders, asking them to plant the nuts for peace.<\/p>\n

The exhibit also showcases \u201cAdd Colour (Refugee Boat),\u201d a famous interactive piece that also resides in London\u2019s Tate Modern. Paired with the simple description \u201cJust blue like the ocean y.o.,\u201d a boat sits in the middle of a white room waiting for an audience to fill it in with blue ink. Ono asks the audience to express their feelings on an immigration crisis that plagues the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Yoko\"YokoYoko Ono\u2019s \u201cAdd Colour (Refugee Boat)\u201d interactive exhibitCredit: Stephanie Ahn<\/p>\n

Ono\u2019s art, showcased by \u201cMusic of the Mind,\u201d is vast, taking forms of performance art, scores, music, films and photographs. She emphasized the significance of art as a vessel to understand broader human issues, which she consistently advocated for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only sound that exists to me is the sound of the mind. My works are only to induce music of the mind in people,\u201d Ono said.<\/p>\n

The Broad will display \u201cYoko Ono: Music of the Mind\u201d until Oct. 11. The exhibition is free every Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m.<\/a> and is free all day on June 19 and July 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A deeper look into The Broad\u2019s newest exhibit highlighting the Japanese countercultural artist While most recognize Yoko Ono…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[27707,103911,48,52,51,6547,47,50,49,85779,89062,27706],"class_list":["post-363340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-john-lennon","tag-kyoto","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-london","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-the-beatles","tag-the-broad","tag-yoko-ono"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}