Art history Yoko
intersections online
Volume 10, Number 1 (Winter 2009)
Whitney Frank, “Instructions for Destruction: Yoko Ono's Performance Art,” intersections 10, no. 1
(2009): 571-607.
ABSTRACT
What is currently known as “destruction art” originated in the artistic and cultural work of avantgarde art groups during the 1960s. In the aftermath of World War Two, the threat of annihilation through nuclear conflict and the Vietnam War drastically changed the cultural landscapes and everyday life in the United States, Asia, and Europe. In this context,
“destruction art” has been situated as the “discourse of the survivor,” or the method in which the visual arts cope with societies structured by violence and the underlying threat of death.
Many artists involved in destruction art at this time were concerned with destroying not just physical objects, but also with performing destruction with various media. By integrating the body into conceptual works rather than literal narratives of violence, artists contested and redefined mainstream definitions of art, social relations and hierarchies, and consciousness. Yoko Ono, who was born in Tokyo in 1933 and began her work as an artist in the late 1950s, addresses destruction through conceptual performances, instructions, and by presenting and modifying objects. Ono’s work is not only vital to understanding the development of the international avant garde, but it is relevant to contemporary art and society. Her attention to the internalization of violence and oppression reflects contemporaneous feminist theory that situates the female body as text and battleground. By repositioning violence in performance work, Ono’s art promotes creative thinking, ultimately drawing out the reality of destruction that remains hidden within the physical and social body. http://depts.washington.edu/chid/intersections_Winter_2009/Whitney_Frank_Yoko_Ono_Performance_Art.pdf Fair Use Notice: The images within this article are
Volume 10, Number 1 (Winter 2009)
Whitney Frank, “Instructions for Destruction: Yoko Ono's Performance Art,” intersections 10, no. 1
(2009): 571-607.
ABSTRACT
What is currently known as “destruction art” originated in the artistic and cultural work of avantgarde art groups during the 1960s. In the aftermath of World War Two, the threat of annihilation through nuclear conflict and the Vietnam War drastically changed the cultural landscapes and everyday life in the United States, Asia, and Europe. In this context,
“destruction art” has been situated as the “discourse of the survivor,” or the method in which the visual arts cope with societies structured by violence and the underlying threat of death.
Many artists involved in destruction art at this time were concerned with destroying not just physical objects, but also with performing destruction with various media. By integrating the body into conceptual works rather than literal narratives of violence, artists contested and redefined mainstream definitions of art, social relations and hierarchies, and consciousness. Yoko Ono, who was born in Tokyo in 1933 and began her work as an artist in the late 1950s, addresses destruction through conceptual performances, instructions, and by presenting and modifying objects. Ono’s work is not only vital to understanding the development of the international avant garde, but it is relevant to contemporary art and society. Her attention to the internalization of violence and oppression reflects contemporaneous feminist theory that situates the female body as text and battleground. By repositioning violence in performance work, Ono’s art promotes creative thinking, ultimately drawing out the reality of destruction that remains hidden within the physical and social body. http://depts.washington.edu/chid/intersections_Winter_2009/Whitney_Frank_Yoko_Ono_Performance_Art.pdf Fair Use Notice: The images within this article are