Revisiting "Cut Piece"

Haley Haas, Photo by Matt Artz

The original exhibition of Cut Piece by Yoko Ono took place in Japan in 1964, amidst the Fluxus movement of the early sixties. This performance piece is composed solely of Ono on stage, in her nicest suit, with a pair of scissors. In the performance, she details to the audience that they are to come on stage, one by one, and cut off a part of her clothing. The piece only concludes when Ono decides to end it, which historically occurred at the point in which the entirety of her body has become exposed. The involvement of the audience as part of an artistic process was a common practice in the Fluxus art movement of the 1960s.

Because Cut Piece has been conceptually altered with each exhibition, several performance pieces have paid homage to Ono’s original intent through new, innovative lenses. Ono herself allows the piece to organically take shape with each showing. At its conception, a man participating in Cut Piece threatened to injure Ono with her own scissors. In Paris in 2003, the performance evolved in meaning, intending to comment on the events post 9/11 and an overall loss of ego and wish for peace. The Fluxus movement itself calls for interpretation and adaptation, inviting the participant to engage in dialogue with the art. According to philosopher Paulo Freire, genuine dialogue aims at achieving human significance. He states that a mere transactional exchange between teacher and student only promotes alienation. With Ono’s piece in general, the student population would be able to engage in necessary conversation regarding the viewer’s role in the violation of women.

Because Cut Piece exists as a set of instructions for an artist to carry out, Yoko Ono herself is not imperative to the execution of staging the performance. In fact, a significant focus of Ono’s first portrayal of Cut Piece was to examine the collaborative artistic process and remove the role of an artist’s ego. She refrained from any overly finished works, opting for an involvement in the “happening.” The nature of Fluxus work is designed to operate fluidly. Exact preservation of original stagings of Cut Piece are less of a concern in the reproduction process of this piece.

Though a discussion surrounding the relationship between artist and audience was at the forefront of Cut Piece’s conception, a greater commentary has since materialized regarding the relationship between the viewer and women. The context of the work has sparked a feminist interpretation of the way viewership towards art can almost serve as a violator. Watching people’s decisions when presented with a woman almost in the form of an object has brought attention to objectification and the dynamic between abuser and victim. Though this would have potentially been too controversial to present as an idea in a male dominated art sphere in the early sixties, Ono was able to convey this message through action. Ending the performance whenever the performer sees fit is significant to the reclamation of personal autonomy by symbolizing ultimate control over one’s body in a society that devalues female identifying people.

By exhibiting a modern reinvention of Cut Piece in the Visual Arts Center, viewers would have the opportunity to collaborate with the artist in creating the meaning of the work itself. This is something I aim to capture. Inside the lower gallery space, several women of varying ages would perform Cut Piece as an allusion to Ono’s continued investment in this dialogue, regardless of age. The women wouldn’t be on a stage or elevated platform, so as to harness the interactive opportunities of the gallery. This would allow the participants to explore their own personal relationship to aging as a process, and how people choose to treat women differently over time. The inspiration comes from Yoko Ono’s last performance of the body of work in 2003, which leads to the question: Do people respond differently to an aged body versus one of a young woman? Having this displayed side by side would represent the feminist interpretation that originally occurred over the span of nearly forty years, between 1964 and the last rendition in 2003.

Ethically speaking, the installation of this piece would have to abide by certain criteria. Due to the sensitive subject matter, I would propose floor to ceiling curtains on the windows. Adapting the VAC’s open concept and opting for a sense of intimacy in the space would provide a safe experience for all participants. While participation in the creation of Cut Piece is encouraged, it’s also imperative that it be loosely outlined to participants beforehand. The themes of violation towards women, vulnerable nudity, and society’s treatment of women as they age may all be sensitive topics that guests would be allowed to decide whether or not to witness.

Although the audience members are essential and active participants in the meaning of Cut Piece, a traditional gallery setting would not be able to accommodate the work. Adapting a piece of performance art from stage to gallery requires considering the practical differences. With a stage performance, audience members are allowed at least a piece of information on what they’ll be viewing and generally agree to remain for the duration of the performance. This implies that Cut Piece will not have the same impact with a standard come and go gallery space. The overall timing and gradual change of each cut contributes to the impact. In order to create the dialogue intended by this piece, the VAC exhibit would have to operate as a performance space during specific times, just like Ono performed at Carnegie Hall. By creating this safe space for participatory art, those who contribute will all produce unique interpretations, allowing the conversation between art and audience to act as one.

References

Art-Sôlido. “Yoko Ono: The Cut Piece That Changed Forever the Relationship between Artist and Audience.” ACADEMIC MAGAZINE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, October 24, 2018. 

https://artsolido.com/2017/02/18/yoko-ono-the-cut-piece-that-changed-forever-the-relatio nship-between-artist-and-audience/. 

Bisenbach, Klaus and Christophe Cherix. Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2015. FAL Reserves N 6537 O56 A4 2015 

Bryan-Wilson, Julia. “Remembering Yoko Ono’s ‘Cut Piece.’” Oxford art journal 26, no. 1 (2003): 101–123. 

Fluxus | Moma. Accessed November 15, 2023. https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/fluxus. Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin Classics, 2017. 

Munroe, Alexandra. Yes Yoko Ono. New York: Japan Society, H.N. Abrams, 2000. FAL Reserves N 6537 O56 A4 2000 TEXT 

Nguyen, Thuy Lien. “A Brief Analysis of Freire’s Dialogue Term.” Medium, July 1, 2019. https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/a-brief-analysis-of-freires-dialogue-term-81cb12fd 9d71. 

Phaidon. “Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece Explained.” PHAIDON. Accessed November 14, 2023. https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2015/may/18/yoko-ono-s-cut-piece-explain ed/. 

Wilmott, Francesca. “Yoko Ono | Moma.” MoMA, 2016. https://www.moma.org/artists/4410. Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1964, Performance