Repost: Yoko Ono "Cut Piece" 1965

Update: This has been one of our most popular posts of the last year so I bumped it up to the top again.
Yoko Ono
"Cut Piece"
Yoko Ono "Cut Piece".mov
Yoko Ono "Cut Piece".mov.m4v
"Ono had first done the performance in 1964, in Japan, and again at Carnegie Hall, in New York, in 1965. Ono sat motionless on the stage after inviting the audience to come up and cut away her clothing, covering her breasts at the moment of unbosoming."
Previously on Bedazzled.tv Yoko Ono in "Satans Bed"
 

 

Comments

[ripley]

she's such a brilliant artist.

So much of her stuff is about audiences - highlighting the power they can have, viewing/participating etc. good gender stuff in there as well.

thanks for posting!

[rougy]

Yoko was a babe. I bet John was the camera man. An experiment on many levels. An internal portrait.

[Melisande Echanique]

First thing I noticed was the style of women's dresses. Really places the moment in time for me.
I like how near the end it gets a little uncomfortable and the guy goes up there and really gets involved in cutting off a large swath of material. At first some chuckles but then protest "leave some for everyone else!" and "stop being such a creep!" and "cornball!"
Her expression is very intriguing too. Is she pissed that he is taking such liberties with the task? Is she worried that it might get out of hand?
It's great to look at stuff like this, the early experiments in breaking boundaries. And also something that reminds us that Yoko Ono was more than just a controversial figure in the Beatles narrative. Thanks so much for posting it.

[Claytonain]

unbosoming isn't a word

[Keith]

Unbosom is a word, just not in this context. It sounds ridiculous being used this way.

[Brian Most]

I guess it's handy to call that art if you haven't the discipline to actually create anything.

[Rich]

More pretentious crap from a woman whose entire career is based on pretentious crap.

[pix]

wow. moved me to tears. hello goodbye and then blue jay way from the beatles magical mystery tour came on itunes on random while I was watch it. her face almost seems to be praying that people won't go all the way. but at the same tiime wanting them to. the guy at the end, staggering up as if he's bet he can derobe her for a beer. such dignity in the face of such degredation. like a nude painting fed by the viewers voyeurism. says more than a painting too, perhaps, and the audience (even me watching it now) is part of the art. perfect. maybe the only woman on the planet that could have matched lennon's fire.

[az]

wow - so great to see this performance piece again. work this potent is rare, even 40+ years after conception. as well, interesting to note the number of folks out there who (continue to) tag their small-head comments about the artist and the art itself - wake up, things are more sophisticated in the world, thanks to the original ideas and actions of artists like yoko ono. conceptual art has little to do with "discipline" or "technique" - this is about IDEA - the seed of imagination.

[Gabriel]

Wow. What a genius!!

[Haz]

I wonder if anyone kept their piece of cloth. What a souvenir!

[sarah]

when i first saw this at the sfmoma, it really struck me how easy it is to treat a human as an object. the actions of the guy who wanted to disrobe her at the end felt so violent to me. it was sickening how he felt so at ease to take liberties with her body.

[Kitty]

Regarding this statement: "I guess it's handy to call that art if you haven't the discipline to actually create anything," please notice: http://www.walkerart.org/archive/A/AA7391E41BD0C90E616F.htm

YES, Yoko Ono!

[kami]

Yoko Ono is Extreme! She is an extremely unattractive Japanese hag who was once an extremely ugly younger flat-assed girl. I cannot believe the comments here claiming that she was some sort of looker at some point... what a joke.

[wyllough ambergris]

while maybe the last cutter was a little piggy, i dont think she placed any restrictions on how much could be cut away or that any articles of her clothing were off limits...i found it very interesting that the artist for all her avant-garde, cutting edge performance work, very modestly covered her breasts with her hands when it got down to her bra...also how unimaginative the cutters were...

[Richard O'Connor]

"Cut Piece" is a very interesting work. It was very brave of her to subject herself to what was uncomfortable in the best of circumstances and maybe a bit harrowing in the worst circumstance. Inviting her audience to participate in the work, which is a theme of hers, indicates a very broad mind. Most artists guard the content of their works fiercely ; she allows the audience to shape it somewhat, moving the vision along as they are moved by it. And, Kami, I think Yoko is actually quite attractive physically (no joke), and have had a slowly growing respect for her over the years. I can see what John found attractive in her. They both valued ideas over conventional forms.

[nearfalse]

I got the impression that the piece was saying something about how people take from each other...like, if she was doing some other performance, the audience would still be taking from her: one would take some wisdom, one would take her dignity, another would take her image and use it sexually. By asking people to physically come up and take part of her with them, she made the act explict. I think the manner in which people take from her is very revealing.

[Weasler]

Yoko has proven once again that she hasn't
an ounce of talent in her entire body.

[John the sculpter]

I am so sick of people reffering to yoko as this avangarde artist figure. She was nothing more than a manipulating, homewrecking, super band destroying parasite.Now from an artists stand point nothing she has ever done has ever been original what so ever. That famous terrible photo of that young girl running from the napalm is easier to look at than yoko art. That no gets at all and are to afraid to admit it because the other liars will think less of them artistically. I know this will probably never post but I need to say it because the rest of the sheep just follow the flock.

Signed Julian Lennon LOL!

[butoh_arts]

I saw another version of "cut piece" in
Germany a while ago. It was nothing like
this in that the actress was completely
disconnected from the stage, and didn't bother about anything the cutters were doing.
Even if you wanted to touch her it was okay,
or really unrecognized by the actress. This was easy since two good sized holes had been cut out of her top early on, fully
exposing her breasts.

[Jamie]

It is unfortunate that the film does not include the invitation to cut, which may have set the tone for what follows. Might she be disappointed if not stripped? I wouldn't think of cutting anyone's clothes off. But, if asked to...that's different. In any case, she's still one of the ballsy-est ladies to ever grace the planet. Always wanted to see this, thanks.

[chel]

This is my first exposure to this piece and I have to say it's very powerful on so many levels. I see sometimes in her face almost a fear, her breathing quickens and she looks most uncomfortable. I noticed too that the females participants seemed a little more hesitant and unsure, while the men seemed more forceful and direct with their cutting.