RAPE will be the focus of one of two special evenings in which Yoko Ono will screen and discuss her film work
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building
4 West 54th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Monday, July 13, and Wednesday, July 15, 7:30
Tickets: $12, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk and online beginning at 9:30 am
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
MoMA’s excellent “Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971” sheds new light on the seminal period of the Tokyo-born multimedia artist’s career, comprising music, photographs, sculpture, interactive performances, memorabilia and ephemera, paintings, films, and instruction pieces. “Ono’s art from this period is run through with a complex interplay between her own absence and presence,” Klaus Biesenbach writes in the extensive exhibition catalog. “Over time, Ono was able to turn her complex handling of artistic presence and absence into a sophisticated treatment of a public image, which allowed her to reach a broad audience with her artistic and political messages.” The artist will be present at MoMA this week for a pair of special presentations of her films and videos. On Monday, July 13, “An Evening with Yoko Ono and Chrissie Iles” will explore Ono’s musical oeuvre through well-known conceptual films and rare footage, followed by a discussion between Ono and Whitney curator Chrissie Iles. On Wednesday, July 15, “An Evening with Yoko Ono and Alexandra Munroe” examines Ono’s 1969 feature-length collaboration with husband John Lennon, Rape, along with the shorts Film No. 4 (Bottoms) and Takahiko Iimura’s Ai (Love), followed by a conversation between Ono and Guggenheim senior curator Alexandra Munroe, who refers to Ono as “one of my dearest friends. Whether sitting around a kitchen table or in more canonized theatres, at this point in our relationship, the most valued time I spend with her are the conversations we have together.” In the catalog, Clive Phillpot explains, “Lennon biographer Ray Coleman claimed that [Rape] ‘parodied the story of the Beatles’ escalator to success,’ but it is much more likely that it reflected what curator Chrissie Iles described as ‘the tension and fear felt by Ono and Lennon as the intrusive press and public attention generated by their fame became increasingly harder to bear.’” The exhibition itself includes such marvelous Ono films as Fly, Cut Piece, Eyeblink, and Film No. 5 (Smile).