The Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York will be exhibiting a retrospective of Yoko Ono’s work from the 1960s to the present, Yoko Ono: Remembering the Future. For the artist, it is a return to the venue of an earlier more controversial show held in 1971. For the Everson, it is the final event of a year-long fiftieth-anniversary celebration. 

In 1971 the museum had opened its doors only three years earlier, and its director at the time was denounced by the local media for inviting Yoko Ono to exhibit her work. It was felt that the motivation in asking Ms. Ono to show hin Syracuse was less about the relevance of Ms. Ono’s work and more about the notoriety that would accompany her husband the former Beatle John Lennon.

The 2019 exhibit which will include several large-scale installations will fill “nearly the full interior of the Everson and some outdoor space” says the Everson’s executive director and CEO Elizabeth Dunbar in an article on Syracuse.com. According to the Everson Museum’s website, “Remembering The Future traces Ono’s experimental approach to engaging audiences as a means of contributing to a more accepting and peaceful world.”

Yoko Ono, Skyladders, 1968/2016 © 2016 Yoko Ono. Photo credit: Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo source.

Yoko Ono: Remembering the Future runs from August 31 to October 27, 2019, at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. For details visit everson.org.

Read the article about the Yoko Ono exhibit on syracuse.com.

Read an article from the New York Times online archive about Yoko Ono’s 1971 show.