[Promise Piece] “Piece of Broken Vase from Yoko Ono’s Performance at Nam June Paik Memorial at Guggenheim April 26 2005 signed”

[New York]: Guggenheim Museum, 2006. Signed fragment of broken vase in envelope with label written in the hand of Jonas Mekas. Item #6675

From Yoko Ono’s performance that concluded “Nam June Paik: A Memorial Tribute” at the Guggenheim, this fragment of broken vase is signed and dated by Ono and was retrieved by Jonas Mekas. The memorial event also included speeches by John G. Harnhardt, Thomas Krens, Ken Paik Hakuta, Shigeko Kubota, Shuya Abe, Jonas Mekas, Russell Connor, David A. Ross, and Wulf Herzogenrath.

Michael Wilson’s account of the evening for Artforum Diary describes the performance: “Finally, after two helpers in head- to-toe black and ninja masks had carried a large canvas of a vase to the front of the stage and unrolled a canvas bag heavy with ceramic fragments, Ono walked on and took a seat. A soundtrack of birdsong faded out and, after a burst of dissonant song, she announced: ‘The vase has been broken into 450 pieces. Take one home and promise to think of Nam June.’ She took out her knitting (I’m not making this up), and the crowd began to mass around her to claim their (signed) fragments before filtering out into the night.”.

Sold