Promise Piece-bones for Nam June Paik's Memorial
Notes: Four fragments of a large, shattered Chinese vase, each initialled "Y.O." and dated " '06", from a performance of Yoko Ono's fluxus work, Promise Piece (first performed at the Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London, 1966, and included in Grapefruit). This variation concluded the memorial for Korean American video artist Nam June Paik held at the Guggenheim Museum on April 26, 2006.
The event was described by Michael Wilson on the Art Forum website (Chance Encounters, April 29, 2006, https://dtbbks.com/ono):
"After two helpers in head-to-toe black and ninja masks had carried a large canvas of a vase to the front of the stage and unrolled a canvas bag heavy with ceramic fragments, Ono walked on and took a seat. A soundtrack of birdsong faded out and, after a burst of dissonant song, she announced: 'The vase has been broken into 450 pieces. Take one home and promise to think of Nam June.' She took out her knitting (I’m not making this up), and the crowd began to mass around her to claim their (signed) fragments before filtering out into the night."
Accompanying the fragments are 1) the event program signed by several of the participants including Paik's widow; 2) the original admission ticket (generic); and 3) a photograph of Ono knitting during the performance.
Promise Piece is one of several works by Ono that incorporate broken pottery, sometimes reassembling them and other times scattering the pieces so that mending is no longer possible. In this case, perhaps as a metaphor for death, the pieces are scattered, each hinting at the shape and decoration of the original vase, but offering only memory and imagination to the viewer.
The fragments are 8.5 mm thick (5/16-inch). In their largest dimensions they measure 12.4 x 5.6 cm; 7 x 4.3 cm; 11 x 7.8 cm; 9.4 x 6 cm.
Provenance: Helene Verin.
Edition + Condition: Fine (though broken).
Publication: New York: Guggenheim Museum, 2006.
Item No: #362079
Price: $7,500