Yoko Ono's retrospective "Music of the Mind" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago showcases over 200 works, including word scores, ephemera, and performances from the 1960s and early '70s. Central to the show is Ono's aesthetic of refusal, exemplified by pieces like *Strip Tease for Three* (1966), where empty chairs await a dancer who never arrives, and *Smoke Painting* (1961), which instructs viewers to burn a canvas. The exhibition, which first appeared at Tate Modern in 2024 and travels to the Broad in Los Angeles after closing in Chicago on February 22, challenges viewers to find meaning in absence and denial.
This retrospective matters because it reframes Ono's legacy beyond her association with John Lennon and the Beatles, presenting her as a pioneering Fluxus artist whose conceptual work continues to provoke and baffle audiences. By emphasizing works that prioritize ideas over visual spectacle, the show underscores Ono's enduring influence on performance and conceptual art, while also highlighting the ongoing relevance of her radical, audience-testing approach in contemporary art discourse.