Ian's report on the Yoko Ono Lecture, as posted to the Friends of Yoko e-mail list, Saturday May 27 2000
I can't say too much about last night's lecture at the Sydney Opera House - I'm still flabbergasted and in awe of the fact that I actually attended a Yoko Ono happening!
It was a great night. I'm glad that Jordan was able to get some video stills for Sari's AIU site - and that he was able to report a bit about the lecture - it actually helped me to start remembering what happened last night.
Before the lecture (I had a couple of hours to waste) I went to a pub at Circular Quay, near the building that had the stills from Smile projected onto the side. I don't know how long each still was shown, but I saw at least 2 - possibly 3 (one of John with a fairly blank expression, one with a huge grin). I ahd a couple of beers to calm my nerves at the anticipation of seeing Yoko, and to pass the time. About an hour before showtime, I made my way up to the Opera House (a 5 minute walk, and always a grand sight!). And waited around in the lobby, just watching all the people.
Not long before the starting time, we were admitted into The Studio, a new performance space at the Opera House - I think it actually used to be an exhibition area which coincidently featured the Art of John Lennon exhibition some years ago.
It's quite an intimate room - no stage, just a floor, with the seats at the front rising straight up from the floor, and a balcony level that circles the room. For all the hoopla about the lecture being sold out, much of the balcony was actually empty. No wonder I was able to get at ticket as late as Thursday afternoon!
I was one of the first dozen or so to get in, and amazingly there were empty seats in the front row near the centre, so guess where I sat?
In the centre of the floor was a single wooden chair, with a single spotlight highlighting it, while the lighting in the rest of the room was fairly subdued, but still light enough to be able to move around the room without tripping up the stairs.
Once everyone was in and seated, the lights dimmed slightly, and Yoko just walked out from behind some black curtains at the rear of the performance area. The applause was quite enthusiastic, but a bit subdued - I got the feeling that people weren't quite sure what to expect.
She looked great - wearing simply black jeans, a black tank top with a short sleeved yellow shirt, unbuttoned. First thing I thought was that she's so small - I knew that she wasn't very tall, but she's also *so* tiny! Then I thought - hang on - I'm just 15 feet away from Yoko Ono! Aaaarrrgggghhh!!!!! :-)
Yoko started talking about comfort zones, and then talked about getting into a comfort zone with "this chair". She said hello to the chair, then walked around it, stopping to look at it from different angles. Then she walked off stage through a side door, and came back on the way she'd first entered, and slid herseld *under* the chair. Then she picked it up, sat it on its side, upside down, and all sorts of ways until she eventually put it back down with the back facing the audience, then sat down in it, where she stayed for most of the rest of the lecture. This may have taken about 10 minutes - I can't really remember.
Then 2 men who'd been sitting in the audience (one of them was right next to me!) got up and made their way to the backstage area, and came back out with 2 other chairs, while other assistants brought out 2 tables, balls of yellow wool, scissors and clear plastic jars, and the 2 guys then sat and started cutting short lengths of wool and placing them in the jars.
Then Yoko said that it was "Q & A" time, and asked for questions from the audience. I forget what the first question was, and then there was quite a long pause, and she looked around as if to say "isn't anyone going to ask anything?". So I took the initiative, seeing as she'd worked so much with the chair, and asked her "so, is the chair comfortable?" (I know, how naff, but I couldn't think of anything else, and it *was* relevant to the evening!). I can't really remember her whole answer, but it was something about that she wasn't comfortable about whether the chair was comfortable with her. Quite a long answer as I recall, and that seemed to get people going with questions.
One person asked whether the 2 guys cutting the pieces of wool was to signify the old question about "how long is a piece of string" or something like that, and I can't remember exactly what the reply was, but she had been talking about how everyone in the world is connnected (quoting We're All Water at one stage).
It was then that one of the assistants brought out several large bags filled with more balls of wool (these were blue and white), and said that she wanted to demonstrate with the wool how we're all connected, so the balls were passed out amongst the audience to wind around each other and pass along, tying everyone together. Yoko got up and went up to some people in the front row to start it of, but nowhere near me unfortuantely :-(
She returned to her seat, and then one guy came out from the audience, dragging the wool out and wrapped it around the 2 guys still cutting the lengths of wool and Yoko together with the audience.
One annoying thing about the Q & A was that people wouldn't speak up - several times Yoko had to ask for the question to be repeated 2 or 3 times. Bloody shy Australians!
The Q & A session probably went for about 40 minutes or so, then Yoko said that was enough of that, and another assistant brought out a large blue vase with others brought out sheets and a hammer. One padded sheet was placed on the floor, while another was wrapped around the vase.
Yoko stood and removed her yellow shirt, took the hammer and smashed the vase up (it was then that I got brave enough to actually take a photograph!). When she finished she invited everyone to take a piece of the vase home with them, and when we meet again in 10 years time, we'll put the vase back together again! Then she just walked off stage.
Everyone stayed sitting for a minute, not sure if that was all, and probably trying to get untangled from the wool which had gone around the room many times. Then one woman went up and took a piece of the vase, so everyone else followed on.
I managed to get untangled finally (breaking off some of the wool that I'd been wrapped in and pocketing the souvenir), but by the time I got to the remains of the vase, there were only very small pieces left, so I grabbed a handful. Then I found a couple of larger pieces that had been left on one of the tables, so I grabbed them. A guy near me asked if he could have one, so I gave one to him, which he then tied up with a piece of the yellow wool (did I mention that Yoko had said that we could take some of those pieces as souvenirs as well?) and then gave it to his girlfriend, who was sitting in the chair that Yoko had sat in. I asked her if *she* thought the chair was confortable! (I guess you had to be there).
Someone had also taken the hammer as a souvenir (!!!), and I saw someone else take one of the sheets. I wouldn't be surprised if the clear jars and the scissors were also taken. Once all the pieces of the vase were gone, people were collecting up the tiny shards that were all over the floor!
Then most of the audience were just milling around (I noticed a few C grade Sydney celebrities), until the ushers asked everyone to leave. So I walked out and went around to the stage door, thinking about waiting for her to come out. There were 3 other people who's been at the lecture there, so I thought I may as well wait with them. Eventually she came out, but unfortunately for us she was in her car and didn't stop, so we just waved as she went past.
That's really about all I can remember of the night at the moment. It's a pity that most of you seemed to have trouble with the webcast (there were 3 cameras, BTW). Hopefully it will be fine when it's up again on Monday - which is good for me, cause then *I'll* be able to see it!.
Now to go and get today's papers, to see if there's any reviews.
Hope that you enjoyed this little first hand report!
Ian in Sydney