She did away with the canvas object altogether and displayed the instruction as the painting itself. By the time of the Sogetsu Art Centre Show, these instruction paintings took the form of hand-lettered sheets carefully calligraphed in Japanese by her husband, Toshi Ichiyanagi, a composer and former student of John Cage. For the AG Gallery show, she displayed the instructions alongside a ‘painting in progress’ signified by each instruction. What is unique about these instruction paintings is the idea that a painting could be separated into two separate functions – the instruction for the painting, and the painting itself. By the time of its inception, Yoko Ono had already displayed her instruction paintings at Maciunas’ AG Gallery in July 1961, and at the Sogetsu Art Center in Toyko in May 1962. įly Piece is not the first of Yoko Ono’s instruction works, nor is it particularly unique within her larger artistic oeuvre. Therefore, when I refer to Fly Piece I am only referring to its incarnations as conceptual or performative gestures from 1963 to approximately 1967. I feel that if this discussion were to include these later versions, I would need to address this work in relation to Ono’s work utilizing advertising media, which is beyond the scope of this paper. In 1996, Fly Piece experienced a reappearance on billboards, posters, and T-shirts produced for the Anderson Gallery in Richmond, VA. That is, Fly Piece as an instruction piece or event score – a linguistic strategy or vehicle whose function is to instantiate either a cerebral or corporeal production of the event it nominates. However, this investigation will focus solely on Fly Piece as a conceptual offering. The recurrence of this theme in Ono’s work demonstrates a certain preoccupation with the subject matter. In order to complete the timeline, it is worth noting that Yoko Ono produced a film titled Fly (1970) in which a fly crawls on a woman’s naked body, as well as a musical album of the same name – Fly (1971). Its activation rests in the instruction’s negotiation by a participating agent. Thus, Fly Piece can be interpreted symbolically and imaginatively, or it can be realized through embodied engagement. Ono’s script for The Strip Tease Show (1966) outlines how this was communicated: At times, the audience was invited to perform the piece. Fly Piece was performed more than ten times in other locations in different variations. Each performer ‘flew’ from a ladder in their own way.
The piece was performed by Anthony Cox, Nam June Paik, Shigeko Kubota, Akasegawa Genpai, and Kosugi Takehisha (among others). The first public performance of Fly Piece took place at the Naiqua Gallery in Tokyo on April 25, 1964. 86 (Fly) – thus drawing a connection between the two pieces despite their disparate titles. The instruction ‘Fly’ appears in this volume under the title Fly Piece dated “1963 summer” – the same date as Instructions for Poem No. In July 1964 this collection was released under the title Grapefruit. Maciunas became too busy with his involvement in many other Fluxus projects, so Ono eventually published the collection herself. 2 in anticipation of a collection of Ono’s scores and instructions (written in the period between 1952–1964) that he intended to publish. In February 1964, George Maciunas printed Instructions for Poem No. It is the most personal incarnation of the work – a score written by a mother for the father to perform an offering commemorating the birth of the living product of their creative union. Besides being the genesis of what would later be referred to as Fly Piece, the birth announcement is the only rendering of the instruction in the artist’s hand. Written in the upper left hand corner are the words “first performed by Tony Cox Summer, 1963” thus blurring any distinction between the birth announcement and an ‘event score’ (a form that Ono was already very familiar with by this time). 86 (Fly), it was handwritten alongside Instructions for Poem No.81 (Give birth to a child…), a child’s handprint, a photograph of Kyoko, and a photo of Yoko, Kyoko, and father Tony Cox. Under the title Instructions for Poem No. Yoko Ono first wrote the instruction in 1963 as a birth announcement for her daughter Kyoko that was mailed to a select number of friends.
Pregnant with possibility, it announces the birth of its own event in the mind of the beholder. It consists of a single printed word – the imperative “Fly.” Simple and yet poetic, it stimulates the imagination.
Fly Piece (1963) is one of a number of Yoko Ono’s instruction works which has enjoyed a multiplicity of manifestations from text to performances situated in various contexts.
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