Yoko Ono Morning Peace 2015

Overview

Early risers, yoga fiends and peaceful art lovers, this one's for you. Celebrating the MoMA exhibition Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971 and the 50th anniversary of Ono’s 1964 New York performance of Morning Piece, the MCA is presenting Yoko Ono Morning Peace 2015, the Sydney's instalment of a global event that salutes the sun on June 21.

Reconnect with the early morning with a free giant art-making Mandala workshop on the lawn, outdoor drawing classes on the sculpture terrace, yoga workshops on the rooftop terrace and front lawn with lululemon athletica (June 21 also marks the United Nations’ inaugural World’s Yoga Day). The MCA will be open early from 9am, including the Light Show exhibition and the MCA Cafe, which will be putting on a special New York-themed breakfast menu (cronuts, mimosas, bagels, Belvedere Bloody Marys).

So what are we actually celebrating this early in the morning? It's been 50 years since Ono's Morning Piece was first performed in Tokyo in 1964. The work saw audiences gather at sunrise to meet Ono, who sold artworks with attached pieces of paper on glass, picking out a particular period of morning (e.g., “February 3, 1987 after sunrise,”). Ono would encourage each 'owner' to look through the glass to the sky, with the knowledge they possessed a 'future morning'. Pretty lovely stuff.

Galleries around the world are uniting to present this event. If you can't make it to the MCA, you're encouraged to host your own Morning Peace event, according to the following instructions “On the solstice at sunrise / celebrate mornings of / past, future, and now./ Listen to the world./ Touch each other / when the sun comes up.” (Yoko Ono, spring 2015).