war is over! if you want it

back agaaaaaaaaaain and so sooooooooon ! (kind of)

on saturday i ventured out into the world for the first time in a LONG time, being physically impaired is very trying on ones body. i went with a couple of friend to yoko ono's "war is over" exhibition at the museum of contemporary art in circular quay. i'd heard so much about it, and was extreeeeemely excited to see what she had to display. 

i hobbled my way up the stairs - took me at least ten minutes longer than it would have had i not been injured, and i now completely empathise and sympathise with old people who take so long to walk up and down stairs, its scary! - and we bought our tickets and went in.

the exhibition was truly amazing. i've never been one for completely understanding all the symbolism behind art and such, but yoko's work was presented in such a way that you didn't really have to dig too deep to understand the message that she was trying to display. 

she had tons of interactive artwork which was super cool. there was a bunch of kids at the gallery that day, and they looked like they were having the time of their lives getting involved with the different artworks. 

there were two huge walls covered in maps of the world and maps of different countries and maps of everywhere ever, and these maps were covered in stamps that said "imagine peace" over and over again, all in different languages. 

it was prett awesome to see how people refused to be limited by what they were given: someone had stamped all over the walls and another person on the surrounding tables. you could see how people had made patterns on the maps with the stamps, and how that contrasted with other peoples higgledy-piggledy own stamps. altogether it made for a rather astounding piece of work!

another one of the interactive pieces was the "my mommy is beautiful" wall, which invited the onlooker to write something about his or her mum and stick it on the wall.  there were some really sweet letters, apologising for past wrong doings and hoping for forgiveness, and some really creative ones. 

 when it came to me writing my own letter, i drew a complete blanke and ended up writing my mums last text message to me: "Oh no, have a  panadol and rest it xx" (i was complaining about my foot). 

my friend, grace, wrote hers and said "my writing is awful! it looks like a kid wrote this!" and not five seconds after she had stuck it up, i started giggling because i thought her note was written by a cute 5-year old...oops.
one of the last interactive artworks were hanging helmets with puzzle pieces of sky in them. i spent a while looking through all the different pieces, trying to find some that joined together but had no such luck.
the other installations were just as impressive as the interactive pieces. the exhibition was so incredibly interesting, and yoko's ability to stretch the her creative tendencies over so many different mediums made sure that my attention was solely focused on each different piece.  each room had a refreshing new change, but kept with the overall message that yoko was trying to impress upon the viewer: that war is over (if you want it). 

(NEXT UP: japanese funk band mountain mocha kilimanjaro at the basement, supported by afro-beat band the liberators - truly one of the funnest gigs i've been to in a while)

disclaimer: all photos taken by my lovely best friend grace manolas, used with her permission, or by me on my crappy phone :-)