Transcript: Curator and arts policy specialist Nora Halpern speaks about Yoko Ono during the 2024 Medal Day ceremony
Hi, everybody. And Hi, Yoko, who’s watching on livestream. Thank you, David. It is truly an honor to have been asked by the artist and by her studio to talk about one of my favorite subjects and humans, and that’s Yoko Ono. First, I want to thank Nell, Christine, Chi, Brett, Anja, Jean, and Jericho for the invitation to speak, and also for making me feel so welcome. I particularly want to thank Brett for his wizardry yesterday in getting me up here on time despite global internet shutdowns and airline disruptions. So, I made it—and it is a miracle.
(laughter)
I also want to acknowledge this beautiful site, here on the unceded lands of the Western Abenaki Peoples. I want to honor those who came before us, and as one who was raised on the unceded lands of the Lenape, Tongva, and Chumash, and who currently resides on the lands of the Piscataway and Algonquins. I want to thank the ancestors and those who are among us today.
At this fractured moment in time, where every bit of what used to feel like solid footing seems to be devolving into quicksand, I always look to artists to keep me grounded, which is why being at MacDowell is so meaningful to me. I rely heavily on artists who, throughout my life, serve as inspiration and who have always led me forth in expansive ways. And first among those is Yoko Ono.
Since the 1960’s, Yoko Ono’s work has examined the quixotic balance of each of our places in relation to art, nature, the world, and each other. Her conceptual instruction pieces, sculptures, and music, serve as a source of contemplation, as well as succinct calls to expansive action.
I was indoctrinated into Ono World very early on. When I was a kid, my eldest sister, Amy, an artist and experimental filmmaker immersed in the New York Fluxus movement, gave me a copy of Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit. I know that copies are available on campus, and I almost insist that you pick one up and look at it.
The book is small, as you can see, it was the perfect size for my little fists and the ultimate gift from an eldest sibling who loved to challenge, provoke, and teach.
From its cover shone the face of this woman—with long, full hair and deep probing eyes...someone, it felt, who you could easily sit across a table from and have a chat with. Its big-type text, simple sentences, cajoling narratives, and scattered drawings made it my favorite book as a child, and as you can see from all of the notes and stickies, it has remained a constant companion throughout my life.
When I first met Yoko in 1997, we hit it off instantly. It was as if we had known each other forever. She said something like “I like the way you think, we’re on the same crazy page.” This of course came as no shock to me, as I explained to her. Since it was she who had helped to form my worldview, through the texts and drawings of Grapefruit, it shouldn’t be at all surprising that we were so in sync! We WERE literally on the same page—thanks to this beautiful little book!
It has always bothered me that the majority of the world knows Yoko best through her relationship to her late husband. This of course is a familiar story for many incandescent partners of well-known figures.
I feel very fortunate that I got to know Yoko first and foremost as an artist in her own right—as a woman who has never stood in anyone else’s shadow. It was in fact her power as an artist which first drew Lennon to connect with her. Theirs was a union of equals and they were powerful collaborators in art, activism, and life. Together they wrote the song “Imagine,” which has become a universal anthem for positive change, as resonant today as it was when it was written. They also composed a lesser known, but equally resonant collaboration in 1969 entitled “Remember Love” and recorded it during one of their Bed-in’s for Peace.
This song, like “Imagine” and Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance,” are set up in the same way as Yoko’s instruction pieces, so her conceptual approach as an artist fully informed the music that she and her husband created together, and independently.
I think the best way to describe the power of Yoko’s art is to share it, so I want to read one of my favorite instruction pieces. It was and remains profoundly impactful and empowering to me: It is called “Light Piece,” and it was written in Autumn of 1963.
Carry an empty bag.
Go to the top of the hill.
Pour all the light you can see in it.
Go home when it’s dark.
Hang the bag in the middle of your
Room in place of a light bulb.
(laughter and applause)
I have always loved this piece because it empowers the reader to take ownership of their circumstances. Even as a child, I never read it literally. In fact, I would never have been able to complete the task, as I grew up on the 8th floor of a New York City apartment building! But it sure got me thinking early on about self-possession, manifesting change, as well as instilling an expansive definition of what makes an artwork.
Yoko’s work has a simplistic strength and optimism to it which is no doubt informed by her childhood spent in hiding during the Allied forces bombings of Japan during WWII. During that period, Yoko and her brother were sent to the country, far from their Tokyo home, where they suffered terribly with, among other things, starvation. In their weakened states they used to lay on the ground and look up at the sky—making up imaginary meals and seeing the continuous sky and horizon as the connective tissue which bonded them to the world they left behind and to a better imagined future. Pieces throughout Yoko’s career have featured the sky, as if a continuation of this lived concept of connection—but on a global scale.
Another of my favorite works, which clearly represents Yoko’s dedication to unity, peace, and coexistence, is “Play It by Trust,” from 1966, which presents an all-white chess board with all white pieces. Set up for a traditional game, as the players begin their moves, it soon becomes clear that the competition and skill usually required for chess is quickly neutralized and the players are all of a sudden on the same team, so to speak, instead of each other’s adversaries. What better message could we have today as a democracy stands in the balance?
This sense of mutuality and bonds verses divides is key to Yoko’s philosophy of life as well as her artistic practice. She, who has experienced so much unimaginable horror and violence first-hand, is also one of the most open, empathetic, optimistic, and forgiving people I know. It’s inspiring to hear her talk about the power of forgiveness. Again, it goes back to her hope for unity between all people.
Much of Yoko’s work is not completed until the viewer interacts with it, as Chi had mentioned. Again, it’s about relationships and community building. Today you will have the opportunity to interact with Yoko’s works in a number of ways. And while I know Yoko regrets that she can’t be physically present today, she is omnipresent in all that she manifests as an artist and spirit, both on this campus and throughout the world.
One of the greatest gifts in my life has been my deep friendship with Yoko. She is a loving, challenging, nurturing, very funny, and enduring force who seems to permeate every aspect of my worldview. For this, I will always be grateful. Her life’s works are vehicles for contemplation and roadmaps to a kinder, peace-filled, collective future. It is her brilliance, generosity of spirit, and optimistic vision both as an artist, and a human, which continues to carry me through and I hope, through her art, that all of you can experience that sense of connection, too. Thank you for including me in this beautiful day.
(applause)
It’s now my pleasure to introduce David Newgarden. David is Yoko’s long-time music manager as well as the General Manager of Chimera Music, a label established by Yoko and her son, Sean Ono Lennon.
As you might know, John and Yoko formed a band called the Plastic Ono Band—with the concept that its members remain forever fluid, interchangeable or plastic, so to speak. So, in that spirit, David is here, representing Yoko and accepting the award on her behalf. As I mentioned, she is listening, so she is with us today, and watching, and she’ll always remain the leader of the band for all of us.
Thank you.
(applause)
Visit the Medal Day page for more photos and a video of the ceremony.
Read Nell Painter’s welcome to the crowd, describing MacDowell as a creative sanctuary
Read Resident Director David Macy's tribute to former board chairman Robert McNeil
Read David Newgarden’s acceptance of the 64th Edward MacDowell Medal on behalf of Yoko Ono
