Cut Piece

A person, clothes, scissors (performance).

This iconic performance was first presented at the Sogetsu Center of the Fine Arts in Tokyo. Ono stood on the stage, dressed in a festive dress. In her hands, she held scissors, with which she asked each viewer to cut a piece from her outfit. The process took place until the Japanese woman remained only in her underwear. The primary purpose of this presentation is to show the woman’s helplessness, as well as the calmness with which she suffers all hardships. Yoko Ono repeated her performance repeatedly in various cities around the world. The last time the avant-garde artist presented this performance was in 2003 in Paris when she was seventy years old.