Now on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA Chicago), Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind covers 70 years of the artist’s trailblazing career, with over 200 works including participatory instruction pieces and scores, installations, a curated music room, films, music, photography, and archival materials. On view through February 22, 2026, the groundbreaking retrospective reveals Ono’s innovative approach to language, art, and participation that continues to speak to the present moment.
Music of the Mind documents Ono’s career starting with the mid-1950s, exploring her pivotal role in avant-garde circles in New York, Tokyo, and London, including the development of her “instruction pieces,” and the active role she played in the formation of Fluxus, the loose art collective and movement founded in New York in the early 1960s. The exhibition highlights key works from across her decades-long career, including “Cut Piece” (1964), considered a landmark in performance and feminist art; her collaborations with notable musicians such as John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and her late husband, John Lennon; selected activations of instruction-based art from her influential book Grapefruit (1964); her innovative films of the 1960s and 1970s, including FLY (1970–71) and her banned Film No.4 (Bottoms) (1966–67); recent works such as her ongoing Wish Tree installation (1996–present); and public artworks that are emblematic of Ono’s commitment to peace activism.
Visitors explore Yoko Ono’s ”Add Colour (Refugee Boat)” (1960/2016) in Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, Tate Modern, London, February 15–September 1, 2024 (© Yoko Ono, photo by and © Oliver Cowling, courtesy of Tate)
The exhibition features several participatory artworks, such as “Painting to Hammer a Nail” (1961/1966), “Bag Piece” (1964), and “White Chess Set” (1966), among others. Later works like “Add Color (Refugee Boat)” (1960/2016) encourage guests to write their hopes and beliefs on a white boat and its surroundings, while the installation “My Mommy Is Beautiful” (2004) gives the public an opportunity to share thoughts about their relationship to their mothers and motherhood and attach photographs of them. Additionally, there will be public activations of Ono’s peace-driven artworks on billboards throughout the city and on MCA Chicago’s premises.
“Yoko Ono is a wildly influential and significant figure in performance, conceptualism, music, and activism. She has inspired generations of audiences to think differently about the everyday and seeing art. It is an honor to host this wide-ranging exhibition, which is a critical opportunity that invites the public to deeply engage with Ono’s many important contributions to visual art in new and exciting ways.”
— Manilow Senior Curator Jamillah James
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind was organized by Tate Modern, London, in collaboration with Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. It is on view at the MCA through February 22, 2026.
To learn more, visit mcachicago.org.
Yoko Ono, “PEACE is POWER” (2017, installation view, Yoko Ono: The Learning Garden of Freedom, Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal, 2020 (© Yoko Ono, photo by Filipe Braga)
