Yoko Ono is a Japanese multimedia artist, musician, and human rights activist.
Her work encompasses performance art, filmmaking, and design, and is in both English and Japanese. Ono is also the second wife and widow of renowned musician John Lenon; the couple did several performances promoting peace and human rights. Despite her inevitable connection with Lenon, Ono is an inspiring artist in her own right, as can be displayed in one of her most daring performances called “Cut piece” from 1964. In this art installation, Oko kneels on an empty stage with a pair of scissors in front of her. She says nothing except outlining the parameters of the performance. Each member of the audience is welcomed on the stage one by one, and is asked to cut off any piece of her clothing off of her, and take it to their seat. It is known that Ono can end the performance randomly any time she chooses. At first, the audience members are hesitant and cut pieces of her clothing reluctantly and carefully, but as the performance progresses, they become bolder, and cut more and more pieces of her clothes, including intimate pieces, including her bra and underwear. She covers up her body with her ends, and stops the show.
As can be evident in the aforementioned artistic installation, Ono’s innovative and groundbreaking works of art have a great effect on the world of performing and fine arts, including that of graphic design. The “cut piece” performance by Ono is aimed at immersing the audience into the work itself, and let each member be part of the art work, in a symbiotic relationship between the art and its consumer. This type of incorporation of audience members into the installation itself brings an almost ritualistic experience – Ono’s silence is countered by the nervous laughter of embarrassment from the audience.
Starting from her unique look as an individual, all the way to the visual representation and idiosyncratic ideas behind her work inspire our studio to follow her path and create unique works of art. We aim to incorporate the viewer, or audience of our designs into the craft, and immerse them in the experience that we would like to portray, just like Yoko Ono does in this artistic installation.