Alexandra Munroe on Yoko Ono

The Great Women Artists

WELCOME BACK TO SEASON 7 of the GWA Podcast! I have some exciting news... I have written a book! The Story of Art without Men will be published by Penguin on 8 September 2022, and is available to pre-order now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-without-Men/dp/1529151147/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647348710&sr=8-1 Taking its name from Gombrich’s Story of Art (which includes just one woman!!), this book aims to retell art history with PIONEERING non-male artists who spearheaded movements and redefined the canon. Beginning in the 1500s and ending with those defining the 2020s, this ~FULLY illustrated 500+ page~ book is divided into five parts pinpointing major shifts in art history... ...BACK TO THE PODCAST! In episode 79 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Alexandra Munroe on YOKO ONO! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] A pioneering authority on modern and contemporary Asian art and transnational art studies, Dr Alexandra Munroe is both the Director, Curatorial Affairs, at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Senior Curator, Asian Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, where she has also led the museum’s Asian Art Initiative. Yoko Ono – a visionary, performance art and fluxus pioneer, whose extensive career has spanned from the 50s to the present day – is one of the world's leading artists. An advocate for world peace who has trailblazed both music and art, in pieces that continue to raise vital questions about the world we live in today, Yoko Ono is nothing short of an icon. Now aged 89, her extensive career has seen her fight for global injustices and make protest part of her art. She works with her body, uses objects familiar to us, employs words that I find speak to us on such a universal level, an example being her “instructions” series that open up the world in such illuminating ways it’s impossible to not to see the world in an entirely new way. A pioneer in Performance Art, Yoko Ono (born 1933) set the precedent for disruptive performance pieces that simultaneously challenge and enforce a dialogue between artist and viewer. Raised in Japan, by 1953 she had settled in New York, and it was here that she became involved in the city’s avant-garde Fluxus group: a predominantly political group of artists, poets and musicians who were invested in chance encounters and the unpredictability of performance. In this episode we discuss Ono's upbringing in Japan and the state of the country postwar, her foray into the NYC Downtown avant-garde scene, her first encounter with John Lennon who was mesmerised by her 'YES' work, her radical performances, such as Cut Piece, 1964, which questioned the power of trust and was one of the earliest works to invite audience participation. Plus, her Wish Trees, music and poetry, and more!!! MORE LINKS: LISTEN NOW + ENJOY!!! Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Research assistant: Viva Ruggi Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/