One boing every minute … Yoko Ono's Amaze.
Thwunk! I walk straight into one of the clear walls of Amaze, an exhibit in Yoko Ono's new show at the Serpentine gallery
in London. Turning and turning inside this little labyrinth of Perspex
and aluminium, backtracking and feeling my way towards the centre, I do
it again, the noise reverberating through the gallery and in my head.
When I do reach the centre, I find a square column, waist high, grey,
and half-full of water. I look down at my own dazed reflection.
First made in 1971, Amaze is the centrepiece of this exhibition of early and late Ono work, from her 1960s fluxus
art to more recent and sometimes unwise indulgences. In the first room,
upturned soldiers' helmets dangle like hanging baskets from fishing
line strung from the ceiling. Each is filled with jigsaw pieces,
depicting fragments of the sky; on the floor sit three large conical
mounds of earth, labelled Country A, Country B and Country C; behind
them is a worn 1969 War Is Over (If You Want It) poster, for ever
associated with the heady days of John and Yoko. These elements have
been brought together as a single installation
called Pieces of Sky. Were it not by Ono, we wouldn't linger. War is
bad, the message seems to be, so consider the sky or take up gardening.
Later, I come across a live feed of the London sky from a camera on the
roof. The show is called Yoko Ono: To the Light. Those who have suffered
near-death experiences often complain of a bright light – and a voice
telling them to go towards it. This is a mistake.
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