Yoko Ono: Cut Piece

“[Cut Piece] was a form of giving, giving and taking. It was a kind of criticism against artists, who are always giving what they want to  give. I wanted people to take whatever they wanted to, so it was very important to say you can cut wherever you want to.” –Yoko Ono,  1968.

One of Ono’s early works, Cut Piece is a performance made possible by the artist’s instructions to the audience to cut away pieces of her clothing. The open-ended instructions create an intimate and unconventional exchange between the artist and audience where participants’ comfort levels are revealed based on how closely they do or don’t engage with Ono as well as how much of her clothes they choose to cut off or not.

Credit: Overview from museum website