Event Item: 00135

Yoko Ono. Between the Sky and My Head

Exhibition: 24th Aug 2008 to 16th Nov 2008

Source: http://www.kunsthalle-bielefeld.de

With Yoko Ono (b.1933) the Kunsthalle Bielefeld is showing the works of an artist who has been active for more than fifty years and doubtless should be credited with having founded conceptual art. The exhibition deals with Ono's cosmic, poetic, and political understanding of human culture. It is comprised of a selection of Ono's works from 1961 to the present day, and will also include works relating to the city, installed outside of the museum. Works include a Wish Tree, which, like the "wish pieces" in Japanese temple gardens, appeals to people's dreams and wishes.

On 27 September, a Golden Ladder-an allegory for the title of the exhibition, Between the Sky and My Head, will be installed in the Kunsthalle park, to celebrate the re-opening of the park, which has been re-designed in accordance with Philip Johnson's original plans. The work is an imaginary, spiritual space centered between the sky and the earth. Since Ono not only works with grand dreams, but also with poetic visions of how one can change, she plans a third work outside for the Kunsthalle: the realization of a work originally written down in 1962, titled Riding Piece: "Ride a coffin car all over the city." During the run of the show, visitors to the Kunsthalle can choose to be chauffeured around the city in a hearse for a short time.

Inside the Kunsthalle itself, there will be three floors of sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs, films, and sound installations. An interview with the artist, filmed in Bielefeld, will accompany the show. The exhibition catalogue (207 pages) is published by Walther König/D.A.P. Prize during the exhibition 19,80 (Museum edition, in english).

Yoko Ono. Between the Sky and My Head will run until 16 November, 2008, and is sponsored by the Kulturstiftung Pro Bielefeld. The exhibition will be shown at Baltic Centre of Contemporary Arts, Gateshead, from December 13, 2008, to March 15, 2009.

Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Gemeinnützige Betriebs-gesellschaft mbH, Artur-Ladebeck-Straße 5, 33602 Bielefeld, Germany