Cast off Negativity at Yoko Ono's Latest Installation

Yoko Ono. © Yoko Ono, Photo: Pierre Le Hors, Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery

Two galleries are simultaneously hosting a new interactive piece by Yoko Ono, in addition to staging two more participatory pieces by the artist.  "The Riverbed" is hosted by Galerie Lelong until January 29th and Andrea Rosen Gallery until January 23rd, and visitors are asked to view the two locations as equally important halves of the work—basically, you should hit up both galleries in order to have the full experience. For “The Riverbed," Ono inscribed words like “dream” and “remember” on river stones, and a collection of these stones is present at both venues. Visitors are asked to hold the stones in their laps, concentrating on the words inscribed on them, hopefully releasing their negative emotions while doing so. Also presented is another work by Ono called “Line Piece,” in which visitors are asked to continue drawing a pencil line that she started, with the goal of the collaborative line taking her around the world.

Ono's “Mend Piece," originally made in 1966, is also being restaged at the galleries. In this work, visitors are asked to repair broken ceramic cups using materials like twine, tape, and glue. As Ono puts it, "As you mend the cup, mending that is needed elsewhere in the Universe gets done as well. Be aware of it as you mend.” The cups, as repaired by visitors, are then displayed in the gallery for all to see. It's easy to see how a nearly 50-year-old work like "Mend Piece" is timeless, for in trying to fix the nearly irreparably broken cups, visitors physically perform something that we all undergo on an emotional and physical level. By trying to repair these ceramics, participants in the installation embody one of the most universal functions of every creature in the world: healing.

Stone Piece (Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York 2015/2016),

2015, l

ocal riverbed rocks, d

imensions variable, c

ourtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York,

(C) Yoko Ono. P

hoto: Pierre Le Hors. (2)

Detail:

Yoko Ono, S

tone Piece (Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York 2015/2016),

2015, l

ocal riverbed rocks, d

imensions variable, c

ourtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York (C) Yoko Ono.

Photo: Pierre Le Hors

Yoko Ono, Mend Piece (Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York 2015/2016), 1966/2015, Ceramic, glue, tape, scissors, and twine Dimensions variable, Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York (C) Yoko Ono, Photo: Pierre Le Hors.

Detail: Yoko Ono, Line Piece (Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York 2015/2016), 2015, materials variable, dimensions variable, courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York (C) Yoko Ono. Photo: Pierre Le Hors

To learn more about "The Riverbed," click here.

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