"Women's Power Is Coming Out": Inside Yoko Ono's Sydney Press Conference

14 November 2013 | 2:54 pm | Danielle O'Donohue

The acclaimed artist speaks on the eve of her War Is Over exhibition's opening.

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Artist, activist and musician, 80 year old icon Yoko Ono has never been an easy woman to pin down.

Launching War Is Over (If You Want It) her new survey exhibition at Sydney's MCA - opening Friday 15 November until 23 Feburary 2014 - a cheeky Ono said she has an affinity with Australia, a place she believes is able to embrace change. 

“I don't think where I fit or not. That's not my concern. When I first saw the Opera House, I thought I'm a little Opera House.”

Speaking at a press conference, the artist said she hopes like the Opera House, people who may find her work confusing and off-putting at first eventually begin to find things about her art they like.

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The exhibition includes several participatory works - visitors are invited to play chess with friends or strangers with an all-white chess set, answer phone calls from the artist herself or write a message to their mother and stick it to a wall. 

Ono said collaboration with her audience is a large part of what makes art important for her and plays into the central theme and title of the exhibition.

“By participating in this show you will find a way to express yourselves. We can make a beautiful world together. Just doing artwork is not enough. This is what it is, please take it and play yourselves and then it becomes your artwork.”

Asked about the playful nature of her art, Ono showed glimpses of the women's activist who used her gender to create some of her most powerful work, including Cut Piece, first filmed in 1964.

“The world did not like women to become funny. They should be able to have fun and be serious about themselves. Now women's power is coming out and I really celebrate that.” 

Working very closely with the MCA and curator Rachel Kent, Ono has been working toward the exhibition over the last four years, recontextualising over 50 years of her work.

One piece, Play It By Trust was first exhibited at the London exhibition where her future husband and musical icon John Lennon was first introduced to the artist, but Ono has given the piece a Sydney Opera House inspired makeover for its introduction to Sydney.