Friday, August 20, 2010

Yoko Ono's WISH TREE for the Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art has installed Yoko Ono's "Wish Tree" in the Sculpture Garden as part of the new exhibit, Contemporary Art from the Collection. The tree has been drawing attention from a steady stream of museum visitors from all over the world who write their wishes on white paper tags and tie them on the tree branches. When the tree is completely covered with wishes, the paper tags are collected and placed in a glass box on the second floor of the museum. The Wish Tree is a tribute to Yoko Ono and John Lennon's campaign for world peace. It was inspired by Yoko Ono's childhood in Japan. When visiting a temple, she would write a wish on a piece of paper and attach it to a tree branch. The Wish Tree installation runs through the Fall.
The video below from MOMA shows Yoko Ono writing her wish, as well as her performance in "Voice Piece for Soprano," a participatory artwork at MOMA. Museum visitors are invited to take a microphone in the museum's atrium and follow Ono's instructions, posted on a wall to "Scream 1. against the wind; 2. against the wall; 3. against the sky." The resulting screams are amplified throughout the galleries.
 

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