Item #6647 A Box of Smile Y.O ’71 [White with Facsimile Mirror]. George Maciunas Yoko Ono.
A Box of Smile Y.O ’71 [White with Facsimile Mirror]

A Box of Smile Y.O ’71 [White with Facsimile Mirror]

New York: Fluxus, 1971. White plastic box with gold lettering to top of lid, mirror inside. Facsimile of original mirror. Item #6647

Produced by George Maciunas in conjunction with Yoko Ono’s 1971 exhibition “This is Not Here” at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, this multiple by Yoko Ono was conceived of in 1967. A small plastic box that opens to reveal a mirror with the viewer’s reflection, invoking a smile. The piece engages the viewer through the act of smiling, which reappears in her work frequently, most prominently with her concept to make a film starring every single person on earth smiling.

While the edition was originally issued in 1971, it was reissued by ReFLUX in 1984 when a number of deadstock inscribed boxes fabricated in 1971 for the original edition were found. The 1984 edition added new mirrors and inscribed on the underside to distinguish the new edition. It is unclear if this box was issued as a part of the original run and lost its mirror, or if it was one of the deadstock boxes that somehow never made its way into the reissue edition. Mirror added by Boo-Hooray.

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