Cut Piece

Yoko Ono

Japanese artist, born 1933

Cut Piece

Performance

1964

In Cut Piece—one of Yoko Ono’s early performance works—Yoko Ono sat independently on a stage, dressed in her decent suit, with a pair of scissors in front of her.

The audience had been informed that they could switch reaching her and use the scissors to cut off a minor piece of her suit, which was theirs to maintain.

Some people moved toward her hesitantly, reducing a small square of fabric from her sleeve or the border of her skirt. Others came boldly, snipping away the front of her blouse or the belts of her bra.

Ono stayed motionless and calm throughout the show, until, at her intention, the action ended. In expressing upon the experience previously, the artist told: “When I perform the Cut Piece, I get into a dream, and so I don’t think too frightened.… We usually provide something with a purpose…but I liked to watch what they would take….There was a long pause between one person appearing and the next person presenting itself. And I told you it’s great, wonderful music, you understand? Ba-ba-ba-ba, cut! Ba-ba-ba-ba, cut! Wonderful poetry.”

Yoko Ono Lennon is a Japanese multimedia artist, vocalist, composer, and peace activist. Her work also includes performance art, which she delivers in both English and Japanese, and filmmaking. She was wedded with English singer-songwriter John Lennon of the Beatles from 1969 until his homicide in 1980.