"Remember Love" is an exhibition put together exclusively for the Kulturhuset. It features Yoko´s more recent work, mainly. The exhibition was open for the press at 10am on Friday 28th May, although some of the installations had not been finished and workers were still setting them up.

Upon entering the Gallery, the first installation is EN TRANCE from 1990. There are 6 different ways of entering the exhibition: 1. is a very narrow corridor with mirrors where one has to walk sideways in order to fit through, 2. is a very low entrance where one has to almost crawl through, 3. is a set of stairs leading up and a slide-passage on the other side, 4. is a normal looking entrance which gets very narrow on the other side, 5. is a normal looking entrance, but one passes though a half-circle and comes out on the same side again and finally there is the option of entering through a curtain of blue painted clay beads on strings, simulating the blue sky.

Once inside, the following pieces are on display

1. Crickets (1998)
Installation in a room: 13 antique cricket cages with metal holders and engraved aluminium plaques. In the middle of the room is a small wooden table and chair with a book and pens asking the visitor to write down their own cricket experience.

2. Sky TV (1966)
6 Television monitors with live feed from a camera set up on the roof of Kulturhuset, showing live pictures of the sky.

3. Imagine Peace (2003)
A room displaying different maps of all continents, as well as pictures of the moon and other planets in our solar system. In the middle of the room is a table with rubber stamps saying "Imagine Peace", ink pad of different colours, Imagine Peace buttons and posters. The visitor is asked to stamp "Imagine Peace" on the map/country of their choice and take one poster and one button.

4. Vertical Memory (1997)
21 framed Iris prints each with a small plaque with different texts. The photo is a morph of pictures of the 3 men, who have watched over Yoko: her father, her husband and her son.

5. Telephone Piece (1996)
A white telephone with a designated line, placed on a wall mount, that will accept incoming calls only. Yoko will periodically call to the number and speak to the visitors.

6. Portrait of Nora (1992/2002)
Image of Yoko, pigment of stretched canvas

7. Half a room - Hospital version (1998)
White hospital room with white, cut in half objects on display. (half hospital bed, half armchair, half dressing-gown, half table bucket, half clothes hanger, half bible, half scissors, etc)

8. From My Window - La Fortuna ( 2002)
3 images: pigment on canvas. The images are morphed pictures of John and Yoko overlooking Central Park

9. Cleaning Piece and Riverbed (1996/97)
Washed river rocks configured in a shape suggestive of a riverbed on the floor. 2 areas of one meter by one meter delineated on the floor, one with the transfer text "Mound of Sorrow" and the other with the text "Mound of Joy".

10. Morning Beams (1997)
100 nylon boating ropes emanating from a metal ring in the ceiling, anchored to 100 eyelets welded to a metal plate on the floor at an 45 degree angle.

11. Blue Room (1966/2004)
Yoko wrote text instructions directly onto the walls. This was done live during the press opening.

12. My Mommy was beautiful (1997)
Small room displaying images of female private parts, pigment on canvas

13. Rainbow Postcard (2003)
The work consists of a long, black wooden tunnel. The structure very gradually diminishes in size. A postcard of a rainbow is mounted on the end wall, with a focussed light source that projects only onto the postcard, but does not spill onto the walls. This piece is from the "Odyssey of Cockroach" exhibition.

14. Whisper Piece - Helmets (2001)
15 antique soldier's helmets hanging from the ceiling, each filled with white badges. There are 5 different badges with the words "Remember", "Touch", Dream", "Breathe" and "Yes" in Yoko´s handwriting. The visitor is asked to take one badge only.

15. Film Installation (2001 - as an installation work)
Yoko's films (Cut Piece, Fly, Rape, Freedom, Bottoms, Smile and Erection) are shown on six different screens in a dark room. Each screen simultaneously shows a different part of the same film.

There are also sound installations featuring music and noises (Season of Glass, Cough Piece and Blueprint for a Sunrise).

Press Conference

Gallery owner Ingemar Arnesson introduced his "new friend" Yoko Ono on stage and then read out the introduction he wrote for the "Remember Love" programme:

"Yoko Ono uses words, images and music to enter into a dialogue with us. As viewers we can keep our private thoughts to ourselves but we can also become participants. Her inspiration can be an experience that transforms into an artwork perhaps several years later. She is influenced by childhood memories as well as by the turbulent world in which she lives. In her art, Yoko Ono shows empathy and provides encounters that blur the borders between art and reality. This transparency is always present in her work and has made her art both ground-breaking and timeless".

Quotes from Yoko

"The reason for coming here is that we are living in turbulent times and it is important to touch base, to hug each other and to remember love. With love we can cure the world and make it better"

"I have always asked people to participate in my art. In the old days they used to be a bit embarrassed and confused, but now they are ready to participate. I like the idea of them sharing their thoughts and putting their own creativity in"

"Remember Love" was originally the title of a song. It was the b-side of "Give peace a chance". So we made Give peace a chance/Remember Love. It is very important to remember love. It's a serious time and love is serious, too, and it has incredible power. You can change the world with love"

"Nutopia is a country that exists in all of us. John and I created this imaginary world and we held up white flags of surrender - surrender to peace, surrender to love. All of us represent Nutopia. In our apartment we had a gold sign on the kitchen back door saying "Nutopian Embassy". I still have it to this day"

"My exhibition "Odyssey of a Cockroach" in London was an installation of mixed things - together in the same room. A situation of two times living in one space. The "Rainbow postcard" installation in from that exhibition. You enter a dark corridor - it's a bit frightening actually. And I think people seem to disappear from view when they walk into the darkness" "I think we see the dawn now. Every day, do one thing that will let your heart dance. If you can't do it because you're too depressed, then do something that makes somebody else's heart dance. Do this for 3 months and you will notice the change. We are here to heal the world"

About still being associated with John

"That's part of my life and I don't deny it's existence. I feel we are still partners. We made our beds to work for world peace"

9/11

"It affected me like it affected you. It was frightening. I was in New York and I was frightened. But in my life, the most scary thing that happened was World War II. I was in Tokyo when enemy planes were coming in, bombing the city. So I see it a little different than the Americans. The Americans never experienced an attack on their homeland. Pearl Harbour was different because it was on an island, further away. I thought of 3 things on September 11th: one was the second world war, one was the day of John's passing - because it happened equally unexpected - and third were the people who lost their partner or a family member. After 9/11 many artists asked: What can we do now? Together, art and music, can cover the world and make it peaceful. Art is international so all of us can benefit from it"

Cut Piece

"I did "Cut Piece" again last year in Paris. I was a little scared. My friends said to me: you need a bodyguard, but my principle was that we have to trust each other. In "Cut Piece" I ask people to come on stage and each cut off one piece of my clothing. This time I asked that they send that piece of clothes to the person they love. When I did it 40 years ago - 40 years, I can't believe it - I did it as a woman confronting turbulence and anger, but this time I did it with an incredible feeling of love for the world"

"When I became 70 I congratulated me for having survived so long, so much. And I discovered my love for the world, as if the world was my lover, you know. I should not be ignoring this lover"

"We are still breaking the borders - all of us together. It's a natural thing that is happening. In the world that we are in, there are no borders. The opposite of love is not hate, it's fear. We have to overcome that fear and touch each other, hold each other, speak up, stand up and tell the world: together we can make it"

En Trance

"It's all about having a choice. We reaffirm to ourselves that we have a choice. We don't know where it is going to lead, but we have a choice. We have a choice of destroying the planet or keeping it well"

"We live more and more in a global village. The source of inspiration we receive comes from the human history. We are the human race. Our hearts beat in unison. That is so exciting and we have to care about that"

After the press conference, Yoko opened the "Blue Room" in the presence of photographers and TV teams. She also posed for pictures at the Whisper Piece. Afterwards she waved us goodbye and said "See you again".

more information

AIU website's exclusive photos from Remember Love
Press articles and reviews about Remember Love

© Chris Gurney 2004