Yoko Ono - You have to be more than a child

Visiting an exhibition of Yoko Ono in the Kunsthaus Zürich I read a text by Yoko Ono (found it there only in german) that I find very fascinating - and timely besides being written as a letter in 1971. There she is thinking about what it means to be an artist in a troubled world - I am very impressed by this. Her stance against violence together with showing how powerful art can actually be are strong statements that I feel resonating.

The full text of the letter can be found at Yoko’s response: You have to be more than a child - syracuse.com.

Many people believe that in this age, art is dead. They despise the artists who show in galleries and are caught in the traditional art world. Artists themselves are beginning to lose their confidence. They dont know whether they are doing something that still has value in this dying age where the social problems are so vital and critical.

I wondered myself about this. Why am I still an artist? Why am I not joining the violent revolutionaries? Then I realized that destruction was not my game. Violent revolutionaries are trying to destroy the establishment. That is good. But how? By killing? Killing is such an artless thing. All you need is a Coke bottle in your hand and you can kill. But people who kill that way most often become the next establishment after they’ve killed the old. Because they are using the same method that the old establishment used to destroy. Violent revolutionaries thinking is very close to establishment-type thinking and ways of solving problems.

I like to fight the establishment by using methods that are so far removed from establishment-type thinking that the establishment doesnt know how to fight back. For instance, they cannot stamp out John and Yoko events: “Two Virgins,” “Bad Peace,” “Acorn Peace” and “War is Over Poster.”

Artists are not here to destroy or to create. “Creativity” is just as simple and artless a thing to do as “destroying.” Everyone on earth has creativity a housewife can create a baby. Children are just as creative as the people who society considers artists. Creative artists are just good enough to be considered children. Artists must not create more objects, the world is full of everything it needs.

Im bored with artists who make big lumps of sculpture and occupy a big space with them and think they have done something “creative.” And allow people nothing but to applaud the lump. That is sheer narcissism. Why dont they at least let people touch them? Money and space are wasted on such projects when there are people starving and people who dont have enough place(sic) to sleep or breathe.

The job of an artist is not to destroy but to change the value of things. And by doing that, artists can change the world into a utopia where there is total freedom for everybody. That can be achieved only when there is total communication in the world. Total communication equals peace. That is our aim. That is what artists can do for the world!

In order to change the value of things youve got to know the situation of the world. You have to be more than a child.

That is the difference between a childs work and an artists work. That is the difference between an artists work and a murderers work. We are artists. Artist is just a frame of mind. Anybody can be an artist. It doesnt involve having a talent. It involves only having a certain frame of mind, an attitude of determination and imagination that springs naturally out of the necessity of the situation.

I understand that Picasso confessed his con. He was never an artist who took intiative in changing the world. He may have felt guilty about it. On the other hand, he may have been facetitious in labeling what he did as con. I differentiate myself from other conceptual artistrs by calling my art Con Art but that that does not mean con in a sense of lying. Con laid outright as obvious con is not a con. Its something to do with dream-making. What Picasso said about Art(sic) being dead is true, too. Any Art that cant relate itself to society is dead. Art is communication. Communication is Art.

Example of todays living artists:

There was a temple in Japan called the Golden temple. A man loved it very much as it was, and he couldnt stand the thought of anything happening to it. He felt the only way he could stop anything from happening to it was to burn it down, and he did. Now, the image of the temple was able to stay forever in his mind as a perfect form.

There was a man who made a counterfeit 1,000 yen. It circulated with no trouble at all. The man traveled to another city and circulated another counterfeit 1,000 yen. If he had made lots of counterfeit money he could have been discovered right away. But he wasnt interested in making lots of money. He wanted to have fun and play a simple game. The police went wild and announced that if anybody found a counterfeit 1,000 yen they would get 2,000 yen as a reward if they came to the police station. This man changed the value of money with his actions.

In this very same sense, we have artists today whose works move beyond the gallery space and help change the world: Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul Krassner, for instance, and many others. They reach something that is sensitive and artistic in a very renaissance sense, when the majority of so-called artists these days are hard-core businessmen. Message is the medium. There are only two classes left in our society: The class who communicates and the class who doesnt. Tomorrow, I hope there will be just one. Total communication equals peace.

“Men can destroy, women can create, Artists Revalue”

Yoko Ono Lennon
PS I agree! John Ono Lennon

Not to forget the text of the Beatles song:

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people
Livin’ for today
Ah
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Livin’ life in peace
You
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one