OPEN YOUR BOX!
YOKO’S BOX OF SMILE
By Madeline Bocaro
© Madeline Bocaro, 2018. No part of this site may be reproduced or re-blogged in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner.
This is an excerpt from my Yoko Ono biography…
An all-embracing look at Yoko Ono’s life and work in stunning detail.
Read all about the book, see the reviews and
Order here:
website:
https://linktr.ee/conceptualbooks
“My ultimate goal in film-making is to make a film which includes a smiling face snap of every single human being in the world.”
– Yoko Ono 1967
Yoko’s smile-gathering concept became real in 2012 with her request for everyone to upload their smiling image to Instagram and Twitter via her #smilesfilm iPhone app. All the smiles were collected to create “a global string of smiles covering the planet and shooting to the Universe”.
Yoko’s 1968 Film No. 5, (Smile), featured John Lennon in his garden as he looked into the camera. John’s 3-minute shift between a straight face and smile is elongated in super slow motion to over 50 minutes.
The most whimsical art piece by Yoko Ono is A BOX OF SMILE. When you open the lid of Yoko’s small plastic box and see the mirror inside, you can’t help but smile! YOU have completed the artwork, and your smile will always be there.
When Yoko presented the box to host David Frost on his television show in 1969, he pompously exclaimed, “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”! (John joked, “We thought you’d like it!”)
Yoko talks about her idea for a Smiles film on the David Frost Show in December 1971:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JySdVegFuqA
A Box of Smile was conceived in 1967. An edition of 1,170 small plastic boxes inscribed ‘A BOX OF SMILE Y.O. ’71’ in gold were produced in 1971. Sarah Lawrence’s library holds one in their special collection.
A larger cardboard version was made for the John Lennon/Yoko One to One to One benefit concert in New York City on August 30, 1972.
In accordance with Fluxus founder George Maciunas’ wish to keep Fluxus art in print, ReFLUX Editions continued A BOX OF SMILE. In 1984, with authorization from Yoko, the remaining empty 1971 boxes were fitted with mirrors and stamped ReFLUX on the bottom. They were available in black, white and clear.
Yoko admits that it is not always easy to smile.
“It was hard for me, too. After my husband passed away, I tried to smile for my health.”
Yoko is always encouraging us to smile.
“Look at yourself in the mirror and force a smile. It is just awkward at first. But after you keep trying it every morning, one day you will start giving your smile to your whole body … and then giving your smile to people with emotion.”
– Yoko 2012, Serpentine Gallery
For her 1989 retrospective, at the Whitney museum in New York City, a bronze Box of Smile was included amongst all of Yoko’s earlier works which were also presented beside bronzed versions for the occasion.
In 1997 Yoko produced a signed edition of 35 boxes for friends in a blue and white patina in sky pattern, engraved on front: A BOX OF SMILE Y.O. ’67, and on the back, Xmas ’97 Yoko Ono
“When you go to hotels or somewhere like that, they always have a mirror, but the mirror doesn’t really reflect you. It just suggests, like an airbrush thing of you. And if you keep looking at what you see in that mirror, then you can’t really deal with your real face… You have to break the mirror, but you also have to see the mirror. You have to have that dichotomy constantly. If we don’t have that dichotomy, then we become sort of two-dimensional. We become like a painting, not a person.”
– Yoko, to Elvis Mitchell, Interview Magazine, November 26, 2013
Smile in the mirror.
Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life.
Reincarnation:
Mirror becomes a razor when it’s broken.
Wood becomes a flute when it’s loved.
– Yoko, 1952
East is a mirror of the west, and vice versa.
And there’s no crossover.
We are one.
– Yoko, Twitter January 22, 2016
The Village Voice ad 1971:
Yoko Ono WAR IS OVER! exhibition catalogue, MCA Australia
(limited edition of 1,500 ):
© Madeline Bocaro 2018. No part of these written materials may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, re-blogged or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Madeline Bocaro. Any other reproduction in any form without permission is prohibited. All of the text written by Madeline Bocaro on this site is protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without prior written permission of Madeline Bocaro.
madelinex.com is a non-profit blog created for educational and research purposes.
Any content that may violate copyright or free usage laws will be removed immediately upon request.
An excerpt from my Yoko Ono biography
In Your Mind – The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono
Read all about it, see the reviews and
Order here:
Website:
Signed hard cover books are only available at:
https://linktr.ee/conceptualbooks
Contact: conceptualbooks@icloud.com
Happy Wishes to Yoko and John (R.I.P.), from Film maker of Smile, Fly, Grapefruit,’IMAGINE”, ETC, ETC. Elizabeth Gebhardt D’Agostino, daughter of photographer/Film maker Stephen Gebhardt who passed with great sorrow in 2015…..Love to All, Liz Gebhardt D’Agostino
P.S. Hi Yoko, Thanks for your condolences of my father (Steve Gebhardt’s) Passing in
Cincinnati, 2015….Love To All…Miss You, I was the 10 yr. old that accompanied my father Steve on the “Imagine” shoot!! an Honor to meet you Yoko and of course John who was simply delightful!!
Happy Wishes to Yoko and John (R.I.P.), from Film maker of Smile, Fly, Grapefruit,’IMAGINE”, ETC, ETC. Elizabeth Gebhardt D’Agostino, daughter of photographer/Film maker Stephen Gebhardt who passed with great sorrow in 2015…..Love to All, Liz Gebhardt D’Agostino
Still have The Lovely sentiment of “The Box Of Smiles”..Treasure it forever, Inscribed “Steve”
“A Box of Smiles”….Xmas 1971
P.S. Hi Yoko, Thanks for your condolences of my father (Steve Gebhardt’s) Passing in
Cincinnati, 2015….Love To All…Miss You, I was the 10 yr. old that accompanied my father Steve on the “Imagine” shoot!! an Honor to meet you Yoko and of course John who was simply delightful!!