Existing comment:
Yoko Ono
born Tokyo, Japan 1933
Cut Piece
1964, performed 1965
performance, 16 mm film by Albert and David Maysles transferred to video; black and white, sound, 8:25 minutes
Courtesy of Yoko Ono Lennon
In Ono's Cut Piece, audience members were invited to approach the artist and, one by one, cut away pieces of her clothing. The drama that unfolded placed spectators in a disconcerting position; each had to consider whether to stop, interfere with, or escalate the action. Although Ono is of Japanese, not Southeast Asian, descent, her racial identity informs this performance of Cut Piece. Presented at Carnegie Hall in the weeks after the first U.S.Marines arrived in South Vietnam, it raised timely questions about how to respond to an evolving, uncertain situation, particularly one that places others under duress |