My horizon by Yoko Ono

We went to Serralves five or six days ago and saw several exhibitions. When we went to the museum shop we bought a book about Ai Weiwei. While doing this I noticed that, if we had come a few months ago, we could have seen an exhibition by Yoko Ono. I noticed this because some of the collectible merchandise from the exhibition still sat there, waiting for someone to buy it at a much reduced price.

The merchandise included pencils, as well as t-shirts, covid masks, mugs, and more. The pencils said Dream. The masks said “Peace is Power”.

One of the t-shirts also said “Dream”. One of them said “Breathe”. One of them said “Imagine Peace”. One of them said “Peace is Power”. One of them said “Have You Seen a Horizon Lately?”

As I looked at these I realised what I didn’t like about them. Far from opening my mind to new possibilities they seemed bossy in a passive-aggressive way. “I’ll breathe when I want to and not before – and don’t you fucking tell me to imagine peace”, I found myself thinking, albeit peacefully.

Now, some time later I find myself looking at a horizon, and what do you know: I find myself thinking about Yoko Ono. Score one for the reknowned conceptual artist!