Exclusively at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=29995
Apr 2, 2009
MONTREAL.- In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous Bed-in, held
from May 26 to June 2 in Suite 1742 of Montreal's Queen Elizabeth
Hotel, made headlines around the world. Forty years later, from April
2 to June 21, 2009, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will celebrate
this legendary event with Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko,
organized in collaboration with Yoko Ono. This multidisciplinary
exhibition, designed and mounted by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
under the direction of Nathalie Bondil, will be presented exclusively
in Montreal. Rekindling the philosophy behind John Lennon and Yoko
Ono's commitment for today's world, this comprehensive exhibition
will provide a picture of the historical and political context in
1969 that formed the backdrop to the Bed-in, as well as explore the
wide-ranging artistic and musical dialogue in the name of peace
conducted by the pop icon and the conceptual artist with ties to the
Fluxus group. In order to enable the widest possible public to
understand, be moved by and perpetuate this still-topical peace
message, admission to the exhibition will be free at all times.
Just as in the exhibition Warhol Live, sound, at once an emotional
and educational conduit, will occupy a privileged position within
this exhibition. This soundscape will closely reflect the entire
thrust of the exhibition. From one gallery to another, John and Yoko
whisper, murmur, speak, sing, shout, call each other and, most of
all, remind us that they often acted as one. For the first time ever,
it will be possible to hear excerpts of conversations between the two
artists during the recording of songs like "Give Peace a
Chance"(three different versions were recorded), as well as media
interviews, video excerpts from the 1960s for such anthems as "Power
to the People"and "I Dont Wanna Be a Soldier." The soundscape will
also correspond to the record covers, which are at once artistic and
autobiographical statements.
Some 140 works, drawings, unpublished photographs, videos, films,
artworks and interactive materials will convey the famous couple's
message of universal peace. Furthermore, visitors will be able to
play "Imagine" on a white piano with a Disklavier sound system, write
down their wishes and tie them to Yoko Ono's Wish Tree, stamp
"Imagine Peace" on maps of the world, and read the works of certain
Nobel Peace Prize winners.
"The Museum is offering a spring of peace," explains Nathalie Bondil.
"Thanks to the participation of Yoko Ono, this exhibition, while
commemorating the1969 Bed-in, which took place in Montreal, will
renews their pacifist action in the present, an action made all the
more relevant given the current state of the world. In solidarity, an
incredible number of businesses, suppliers and partners have decided
to support this project by offering their services for free, so as to
spread this universal message, which, it goes without saying, extends
beyond the walls of this institution. I am very touched to report
that this inclusive and collaborative approach is gathering great
momentum, transforming this event into a collective Montreal work and
a socially engaged action, with all of us rallying around the same
philosophy."
Made possible through Yoko Ono's loan of many exceptional works, the
exhibition will retrace the story of these two major figures, from
their meeting in 1966 to their first creations promoting peace, which
culminated in the May 1969 Bed-in during which "Give Peace a Chance"
was recorded. it will examine the legacy of such anthemic songs as
1971's "Imagine" and "Power to the People," as well as the
politically engaged 1972 album Some Time in New York City.
Organization of the exhibition
The exhibition will comprise nine sections organized on a thematic
and chronological basis. The Introduction will present the life of
John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The 1966 Meeting will reveal the
circumstances in which John and Yoko met, and John's discovery
through Yoko of the American counterculture and conceptual art. In
Four-Handed Works 1969-1971, we follow the rich artistic dialogue
that developed between John and Yoko. In 1968, they presented their
first happening and John had his first solo exhibition; the Plastic
Ono Band was born. The 1969 Bed-In follows John Lennon's engagement
in protests against the Vietnam War, in the tradition of Martin
Luther King, Jr., and of Ghandi: the Bed-in as political forum, the
stage for experimental art and even a recording studio. War Is Over
if You Want It! 1969 traces the international advertising campaign
championing peace in twelve cities worldwide. Imagine 1971: John
Lennon and Yoko Ono's political message comes through on the album
Imagine, the second of John Lennon's solo albums offering a new dream
of a peaceful world. Some Time in New York City 1971-1972: John and
Yoko settled in New York, where they hung out with Bob Dylan, Jerry
Rubbin and Abbie Hoffman, as well as the leftist leaders of the Youth
International party and the Black Panther Party. They played active
roles in many political protests and recorded Some Time in New York
City, an echo of their political activism. This was also the year
they were expelled from the United States. John Lennon had to wait
four years to receive his green card, which affected his relationship
with Yoko as well as his political activism. The Peace Library
invites visitors to explore the many works by a great number of
authors who have written on the theme of peace. Contemporary Works by
Yoko Ono will conclude the exhibition will the Wish Tree, a series of
works she began in 1990, which offers visitors the opportunity to
experience a moment of meditation, and the chess game Play by Trust.
A bit of background
Following their wedding at the British Consulate in Gibraltar on
March 20, 1969 itself a performance/statement in a youth culture
rejecting the traditional institution of marriage John Lennon and
Yoko Ono flew to Amsterdam to devote their honeymoon to the first
Bed-in for peace, from March 25 to 31, at that city's Hilton Hotel.
Their second Bed-in, which could not be held in the United States
since John Lennon was denied entry, was staged in Montreal from May
26 to June 2, involving LSD guru Timothy Leary, singer Petula Clark,
Rabbi Abraham Feinberg and hundreds of reporters. Knowing that their
honeymoon would be a magnet for paparazzi, the couple decided to turn
it into a public event to advance the cause of peace. The normally
private, personal bed became a public stage, a podium, a forum where,
dressed in pyjamas, they explained their perspective on the Vietnam
War to the world's press.
On December 15, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono launched an
international advertising campaign for peace in twelve of the world's
major cities: Athens, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New
York, Paris, Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Rome, Tokyo,
Toronto and, once again, Montreal. Huge billboards in each national
language went up in strategic locations, proclaiming "WAR IS OVER! If
you want it. Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." The format varied
with the available space, ranging from immense billboards in New
York's Times Square to posters and handout flyers, all bearing the
same message. The campaign kicked off with the "Peace for Christmas"
benefit for UNICEF at London's Lyceum Theatre on that same December
15, with the Plastic Ono Band assembling George Harrison, Eric
Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Keith Moon of the Who for the occasion.
The following day, John and Yoko took the peace campaign to Toronto,
and met with Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. On
December 21, an ad with their "War is over" message appeared in the
New York Times.
The Bed-in was the high point of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's actions
for peace, which owed their efficacy to both communications
strategies and contemporary performance art issues. Like their
performances, these uncategorizable actions were generally rejected
as gags or self-promoting theatrics by publicity-hungry stars. In the
same vein as Andy Warhol founding Interview magazine or Joseph Beuys
and the German Green Party, the couple demonstrated a keen awareness
of how to use and channel popularity and manipulate the media.
Yoko Ono
Today, Yoko Ono is still actively pursuing the career in art she
began close to fifty years ago. The latest retrospective of her work,
Between the Sky and My Head, was recently presented in Germany and is
currently on show in England. In 2004, she mounted a controversial
exhibition of photographs depicting parts of women's bodies. Born in
Japan, this avant-garde artist associated with the Fluxus movement
has never ceased to promote peace in her works, from those in the
1966 Indica Gallery exhibition where she first met John Lennon, to
those shown throughout the world today.
A "conscientious objector" during a time of societal and political
crisis throughout the world, John Lennon, along with his muse and
alter ego, Yoko Ono, sang a message of hope and tolerance that sought
the transformation of violence into peace, and hate and racism into
love. Forty years after the iconic Montreal Bed-in, this four-handed
work composed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono still speaks to us today.
The tremendous explosion of media and public attention that
surrounded "Beatlemania" often overshadowed the innermost voice of
John Lennon, who, even as a child, believed he would be an artist and
poet who would use a gift for words and humour and the power of a
somewhat surrealistic imagination to build a world of magic again.
Imagine, far from consigning the artist to the past, will endeavour
to make his creative process come alive and let the voice of this
extraordinary witness to his times be heard.
Curators
Emma Lavigne is curator in the Department of Contemporary and
Emerging Art at the Musée national d'art moderneCentre Pompidou.
Formerly curator of twentieth-century music at Paris's Cité de la
musique, she has curated a number of exhibitions exploring: the
relationship between music and contemporary art, including Electric
Body and Espace Odyssée; rock and the contemporary music scene in
Jimi Hendrix Backstage, Pink Floyd Interstellar and John Lennon:
Unfinished Music, presented from October 2005 to June 2006 at the
Cité de la musique, an exhibition which enabled her to forge closer
ties with Yoko Ono; and the work of artists like Chen Zhen, Saâdane
Afif, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster. Most recently, she presented the
work of video and sound artist Christian Marclay in the exhibition
Replay at Montreal's DHC/Art Fondation pour l'art contemporain. She
was also co-curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition
Warhol Live.
Emma Lavigne is assisted by Thierry Planelle, an art director and
sound designer. Formerly art director at Virgin Music/EMI and visual
and sound creative director for Virgin France, he now designs
soundtracks for the showings of the Hermès and Jean Paul Gaultier
fashion collections. An independent producer for the Maturity Music
label, he is also a founding member of Paris's Radio Nova. In
addition, he collaborated on the exhibition John Lennon: Unfinished
Music at the Cité de la musique. Recently, he created the aural
design for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition Warhol Live.
The exhibition will also benefit from the collaboration of Thierry
Loriot, Research Assistant in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts'
Curatorial Department, and Karla Merrifield, Yoko Ono's archivist.
Éric Daoust, from the Montreal agency Bosses Design, is responsible
for the design of the exhibition. Graphic design is by Philippe Legris.
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