"YOKO ONO'S CUT PIECE (1964)" Performed by John Noga, August 29, 2007 - 7

" YOKO ONO CUT PIECE

performed by john noga

 

Akron-Summit County Public Main Library Auditorium

Wednesday 29 August 2007 7pm "

 

" YOKO ONO'S CUT PIECE (1964)

Performed by John Noga, graduate assistant, The University of Akron

College of Fine and Applied Arts, Master of Arts Administration program

Introduction by Kevin Concannon, associate professor of art, UA

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 7 pm

Akron-Summit County Public Library

(The Akron-Summit County Public Library is the site of the performance, and is not a sponsor.)

 

 

Cut Piece

Yoko Ono's performance, Cut Piece (1964), first performed by the artist herself in

Kyoto, Japan, in 1964, will be performed this evening by graduate student and assistant

curator of the IMAGINE PEACE exhibition, John Noga. The exhibition Yoko Ono

IMAGINE PEACE, Featuring John & Yoko's Year of Peace, curated by Kevin

Concannon (with John Noga), is on display through September 7th at the Mary Schiller

Myers School of Art's Emily Davis Gallery in Folk Hall (150 E. Exchange St, Akron)

on the campus of The University of Akron.

 

 

While Cut Piece is now widely understood as a feminist performance piece, Ono's early

performances of the work were commonly understood quite differently. Ono performed

the piece a number of times between 1964 and 1966. At the time, she spoke of it as a test

of her commitment as an artist. She frequently told interviewers a story about the

Buddha in which he comes across a hungry lioness and her cubs. taking pity on her

plight, he hurls his body off a cliff above the lioness, scattering the pieces of his body to

offer nourishment to the animals. At the moment of his leap, he achieves enlightenment.

 

 

Ono also often discussed the piece as an attempt to move beyond the artist's ego. The

artist, she explained, often gave his audience what he thought they should have. She

wished instead for the audience to take what it wanted from the work. With Cut Piece,

she expressed this quite literally.

 

 

The performance score (instructions) calls for the performer to sit on the stage wearing

his or her best suit of clothing with a pair of scissors placed in front of him or her. it is

then announced that members of the audience may approach the stage one at a time to cut

a piece of clothing that they may take with them. The performance ends at the

performer's discretion. Witnessing the performance, it becomes clear that the cutters are

performers as well. The audience observes that each voluntary participation has their own

unique and distinct approach to the work.

 

 

in 2003, Ono performed the work personally for the last time. She did it, she says, for

peace, and against ageism, racism, and sexism.

 

 

Thank you for being a part of tonight's special performance of Yoko Ono's Cut Piece

 

 

The Mary Schiller Myers School of Art

The University of Akron "

 

 

 

YOKO ONO'S CUT PIECE (1964)

Performed by John Noga, graduate assistant, The University of Akron

College of Fine and Applied Arts, Master of Arts Administration program

Introduction by Kevin Concannon, associate professor of art, UA

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 7 pm

Akron-Summit County Public Library

Done