War Is Over! If you want it - Tribute to Yoko Ono exhibition open at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest
Photo: MTI / Anikó Kovács
The War Is Over! If you want it - Tribute to Yoko Ono exhibition opened yesterday at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. The paintings, sculptures, installations, and short films on display focus on the world-famous artist's desire for peace.
We all see the consequences of the inhumane and in every way unjust war taking place in our neighborhood, which the staff of the National Museum cannot ignore - stressed László L. Simon, director general, at the exhibition's press conference on Friday, November 18.
As he said, the institution preserves important documents and objects of more than a thousand years, including many related to the most serious cataclysms, tragedies, wars, or deprivations of rights in Hungarian history. According to the Director General, "the history of our nation shows that there was never really peace in the Eastern half of Europe".
László L. Simon emphasized: the Yoko Ono exhibition draws attention to the importance of peace. That there is no need for war, because there are never really winners, only serious losers, and that ethnic conflicts and economic issues cannot be solved with weapons. As he said, Hungarian destinies are also affected by the senseless armed conflict, in which hundreds of Transcarpathian Hungarians lost their lives or fled their homes. The director-general asked for an end to the war and for peace to be set because only that can lead to a solution and a normal life.
Photo: MTI / Anikó Kovács
The Director General announced that the proceeds from the Yoko Ono exhibition will be used to support the Transcarpathian victims of the war in Ukraine.
Fifty-two years ago, flyers appeared in New York with the inscription "War is over! If you want it". The project, initiated by Yoko Ono, was later joined by John Lennon, they were protesting against the Vietnam War at the time - recalled Gábor Gulyás, curator of the exhibition, at the press conference. He drew attention to the fact that this expression of peace activism has become relevant again because of the war in Ukraine.
The exhibition
At the Yoko Ono exhibition, more than 30 important works of the artist will be on display - so many of her works have never been exhibited together in Hungary.
In the lobby of the building, there will be an installation called the Wish Tree, on which visitors will be able to place wishes and messages necessary to achieve peace in Ukraine. After the exhibition, the messages hung on the tree will be sent to Iceland, to the base of the Imagine Peace Tower, on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay - said Gábor Gulyás.
He said: Yoko Ono built twenty-one white chess sets, the first one is on display in New York at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), and two chess sets will be presented at the Budapest exhibition with the title Play it by Trust, one from the collection of the Ludwig Museum.
Photo: MTI / Anikó Kovács
The installation Open Your Mind 90 inspires openness, featuring a key, an important motif in Japanese and Eastern cultures.
The performance entitled Cut Piece was one of the very first well-known art actions in the history of art. Yoko Ono first presented it in 1964 at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo, later in New York, and quite a few major Western cities. In the past two decades, it already had several performances that did not feature the Japanese artist.
In the original performance, the audience could cut off a piece of Yoko Ono's dress. The performance will be shown nine times at the Budapest exhibition, the first time with the participation of actor Zsolt Trill, and the last time, on February 18, Yoko Ono and John Lennon's son, musician Sean Lennon, will take part.
Yoko Ono
Gábor Gulyás also said that the school-creating master of conceptual art was born on February 18, 1933, in Tokyo as a descendant of famous samurai. Due to her aristocratic background, she was able to attend high school in the same class as Akihito, the later Emperor of Japan.
Yoko Ono, the most influential Japanese artist of post-World War II modernism, is most popular in the United States. She became known in Hungary thanks to pop culture. She released thirty-three music LPs, made more than sixty films, wrote numerous books, and the most significant part of her life is related to visual arts. Yoko Ono built her oeuvre alone - reads the information sheet of the Hungarian National Museum.
New York, NY - January 20, 2018: Yoko Ono attends women's march in New York at Central Park West. Lev Radin / Shutterstock
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The two ambassadors of the Transcarpathian support action, actress Nelli Szűcs, and actor Zsolt Trill, also participated in the press conference. Nelli Szűcs said: "there should be peace, the politicians should not poison our common wells, the wells from which several nations drink at the same time". At the press conference, Zsolt Trill also called for peace.
Source: MTI (Hungarian News Agency)
