Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind

The first major retrospective of Yoko Ono in a decade foregrounds her impact on activism and invites readers to engage dynamically with her work

Yoko Ono (b. 1933) firmly established herself as a leading figure in the Fluxus movement by the mid-1960s. Since that time, her multimedia practice, encompassing sculpture, film, performance, instruction, and music, has had a significant impact on the trajectory of contemporary art. The first major publication on Ono’s work in more than a decade, this important volume celebrates her career at a pivotal moment and illustrates the prescient themes that the artist has long championed and that have become central to today’s art practice.

This handsome volume traces Ono’s career across continents, beginning with the artist’s early work in Tokyo. Ono’s time in 1960s London is also centered, and the survey looks critically at the development of her work in that period against the more public specter of her relationship with John Lennon and The Beatles. The book then focuses a wider lens on Ono’s transnational networks, including her impact on continental Europe and her extended residency in New York. Throughout her career in each of these places, Ono championed feminist, antiwar, and environmental ideas that have only grown in relevance. Drawing on key themes of audience participation, play, and music, the book also employs Ono’s own words to encourage readers to experience Ono’s work through actions that she finds particularly resonant: reading, enacting, imagining, and wishing.

Published in association with Tate

Exhibition Schedule:

Tate Modern
(February 15-September 1, 2024)

K20, Dusseldorf
(September 28, 2024-March 16, 2025)

Juliet Bingham is curator of international art at Tate Modern.