Yoko Ono's Nomadic Imagination: A Flixbus Journey Through Art and Borders

In a personal essay for Mister Motley, writer Pum van de Koppel reflects on her experiences traveling by Flixbus to see Yoko Ono's retrospective 'Music of the Mind' at Tate Modern in London, and later to Berlin and Vienna. The essay intertwines observations of bus travel with reflections on Ono's instruction-based art, performance pieces, and her influence on Fluxus. Van de Koppel describes Ono's 'instruction paintings' and 'event scores', including 'Painting To Be Stepped On (Variation)' (1961), 'Piece for the Wind' (1962), and the iconic 'Cut Piece' (1964), where audience members cut pieces from her clothing. She also mentions Ono's early life in Tokyo, her wartime experiences, and her move to New York. The essay draws on texts by David Toop and art historian Midori Yoshimoto, and references Ono's 1971 Rolling Stone interview. Van de Koppel also discusses her own travels, including a visit to a listening session in Berlin and a trip to Vienna to see her friend Paula Hernandez Mollison, an artist from Guayaquil. She reflects on the performative nature of bus travel, comparing it to a 'durational performance', and references Christopher Small's 'Musicking' and Jacques Rancière's 'The Emancipated Spectator'. The essay concludes with Ono's 'Fly' (1970) video and her song 'The body is the scar of your mind'.