Yoko Film Screening & Discussion
McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, NC
November 5, 2002

Films

No. 1 (Match Piece), 1966: a match being struck, coming alight, burning, then being blown out. Filmed in slowmotion. I had never seen this before and thought thematch would burn out on its own. For some reason, seeing it blown out struck me as very abrupt and cruel - as if a life was snuffed out.

No. 4 (Bottoms), 1966: this is the first "Bottoms" film, featuring the posteriors of Yoko, Tony Cox, Kyoko and others. Similar to the later "Bottoms" film, it features the naked bottoms of people walking. Lots of laughter in the audience. Made me think about doing more rear-end exercises at the gym! :)

Fly, 1970: a fly explores the body of a sleeping woman. I am always amazed how the soundtrack makes this movie! My voice would not last 30 seconds trying to make those sounds.

Blueprint for the Sunrise, 2000: This begins as a computer manipulated film of John and Yoko at a protest in London. The original images are converted into blurbs of color, creating a surreal animated feel. John and Yoko are walking down a street amongst a crowd of people. John speaks into a megaphone while Yoko walks alongside. British bobbies can be seen in the background. The soundtrack is Yoko singing "Time for Action" to a pulsing synthesizer beat. After several minutes the screen/sound fades to blank and a picture of Yoko/John/Sean (overlayed on a forest backdrop) slowly materializes. Forest/bird sounds are heard. After a minute the Yoko/John/Sean picture fades leaving just the forest.

Following the film screening Kristine Stiles, Duke University professor, spoke about Yoko and her work. Kristine wrote a piece on Yoko's work in 1992 which Yoko admired and contacted Kristine. They have been friends since. Since I never took shorthand, the following is the essence of what Kristine said: Yoko was trained in music and opera. You can hear this training in the modulation and inflection of Yoko's voice on the soundtrack to Fly. Yoko's dad complained about her voice and said she was not a good singer. Yoko was also trained in philosophy. In 1952, she was the first female admitted to a Japanese university as a philosophy major. However, she dropped out and came to Sarah Lawrence in the US. All of Yoko's films are based in her background/training.

Film No. 1 (also known as Fluxus Film No. 14; also Match/Lighting Piece) - 1966. George Maciunas rented the high speed camera used to film this picture. Peter Moore held the camera. The film focuses our attention on the phenomena of fire/light/movement on an inanimate/insentient object. This is typical of the Fluxus/Yoko films. These films came out of "instructions for events" (called "event scores" by Fluxus) that take place in the mind or in action in real time. Film No. 1 is based on the instruction "Lighting Piece." Kristine also made reference to Yoko's training in haiku poetry, the influence of which can also be seen in Yoko's work.

Kristine read "Beat Piece" from Grapefruit. Pieces such as this play with the concepts of modulation and duration of time. In this, Yoko was influenced by John Cage and the musical circles of Fluxus. I believe Kristine said Yoko's first husband , Toshi Ichiyanagi, took classes with Cage.

In 1962-64, Yoko was in Tokyo. During this time she suffered a breakdown. This period is the transition between Yoko's earlier work (consisting of simple objects/actions) and pieces such as Film No. 4 (also known as Fluxus Film No. 16; also Bottoms). This first filming of Bottoms has no sound or narration and features the posteriors of 13 artists/friends. The second Bottoms was filmed the same year (1966) in London and featured 365 famous bottoms. This second film also has a soundtrack of ambient noise from the room while filming. At this time, Yoko was married to Tony Cox. (Here I have the phrases 'Destruction of Art Symposium' and 'met John Lennon' written down, but can't recall what Kristine said about them.) The Bottoms film was originally censored in England, but later changed to an X rating.

1968-1971, films with John Lennon. Fly begins as a gentle exploration - almost seductive, up-close shots of the body landscape being explored by a fly. However, in the end the film turns macabre - we see a prone, almost dead looking body, bruised, explored by clusters of flies.

In the film art/process, Yoko's work has humor, can be erotic, but there is an undercurrent of sadness and violence. Kristine made a reference to Cut Piece. Violence to women's bodies runs through Yoko's work. Also Yoko has always struggled to survive: drugs, the death of John, the loss of Kyoko. Violence/loss/sadness is an undercurrent in Yoko's life/work and is the driving force in her peace activism.

• Yoko Ono Q&A