Now on view on the Museum of Modern Artwork Chicago (MCA Chicago), Yoko Ono: Music of the Thoughts covers 70 years of the artist’s trailblazing profession, with over 200 works together with participatory instruction items and scores, installations, a curated music room, movies, music, images, and archival supplies. On view by way of February 22, 2026, the groundbreaking retrospective reveals Ono’s progressive strategy to language, artwork, and participation that continues to talk to the current second.
Music of the Thoughts paperwork Ono’s profession beginning with the mid-Fifties, exploring her pivotal function in avant-garde circles in New York, Tokyo, and London, together with the event of her “instruction pieces,” and the lively function she performed within the formation of Fluxus, the free artwork collective and motion based in New York within the early Nineteen Sixties. The exhibition highlights key works from throughout her decades-long profession, together with “Cut Piece” (1964), thought of a landmark in efficiency and feminist artwork; her collaborations with notable musicians reminiscent of John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and her late husband, John Lennon; chosen activations of instruction-based artwork from her influential guide Grapefruit (1964); her progressive movies of the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies, together with FLY (1970–71) and her banned Movie No.4 (Bottoms) (1966–67); current works reminiscent of her ongoing Want Tree set up (1996–current); and public artworks which are emblematic of Ono’s dedication to peace activism.
Guests discover Yoko Ono’s ”Add Color (Refugee Boat)” (1960/2016) in Yoko Ono: Music of the Thoughts, Tate Trendy, London, February 15–September 1, 2024 (© Yoko Ono, photograph by and © Oliver Cowling, courtesy of Tate)
The exhibition options a number of participatory artworks, reminiscent of “Painting to Hammer a Nail” (1961/1966), “Bag Piece” (1964), and “White Chess Set” (1966), amongst others. Later works like “Add Color (Refugee Boat)” (1960/2016) encourage visitors to jot down their hopes and beliefs on a white boat and its environment, whereas the set up “My Mommy Is Beautiful” (2004) provides the general public a possibility to share ideas about their relationship to their moms and motherhood and fix pictures of them. Moreover, there will likely be public activations of Ono’s peace-driven artworks on billboards all through town and on MCA Chicago’s premises.
“Yoko Ono is a wildly influential and significant figure in performance, conceptualism, music, and activism. She has inspired generations of audiences to think differently about the everyday and seeing art. It is an honor to host this wide-ranging exhibition, which is a critical opportunity that invites the public to deeply engage with Ono’s many important contributions to visual art in new and exciting ways.”
— Manilow Senior Curator Jamillah James
Yoko Ono: Music of the Thoughts was organized by Tate Trendy, London, in collaboration with Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. It’s on view on the MCA by way of February 22, 2026.
To study extra, go to mcachicago.org.
Yoko Ono, “PEACE is POWER” (2017, set up view, Yoko Ono: The Studying Backyard of Freedom, Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal, 2020 (© Yoko Ono, photograph by Filipe Braga)
