Scissor Sister

The highlight of Tate Britain's exhibition, Art and the 60s: This was Tomorrow, was not, as I anticipated, the two Hockney paintings, Typhoo Tea and Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills, but a Yoko Ono video entitled Cut Piece, in the room dedicated to the Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS).

Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills - David Hockney

Typhoo Tea - David Hockney

DIAS was organised by Gustav Metzger and held in London in 1966. It grew from a zeitgeist of disaffection among post-war artists and served as a forum for exploration of the destructive elements of human nature and more broadly of nature itself.

Ono's contribution, a performance piece, was both powerful and disturbing. She sat alone on a stage wearing a simple, dark coloured woolen outfit and expressionless face, while individuals rose from the audience and cut chunks from her clothes.

I have no first hand experience of the art scene (or anything) in 1966 and so found it difficult to gauge how weird this event would seem to the audience. I can't imagine that Ono would have conceived and performed anything too mundane, but the serious, almost sombre expressions of the participants and spectators, didn't hint at any strangeness or anticipation. In fact they appeared to me like the devout receiving communion. Unquestioning believers.

So there we have it a deadpan audience. Ono herself remained largely the same looking straight ahead, only occasionally glancing in the direction of a minder in the wings or nervously at one of the zombies wielding the scissors.

Scissor technology has moved on a lot in thirty eight years. Today we have refined, ergonomically designed instruments of all shapes and sizes. I'm sure that in the sixties, they must have had various sizes too. However, the pair used in the performance looked like their most appropriate use would be for cutting carpet. Was shagpile around then?

The first participant was a young woman. She gingerly snipped a small piece of cuff from Yoko's left sleeve with the unwieldy scissors.

RELIEF - no blood but it must've been close.

A few more like the first, very polite about it all.

BOREDOM - I think jokingly that I might have gone for a more risqué bit.

A young bloke, without pause, pulled the material away from her left breast and made a nipple sized hole with one cut.

HORROR - I just thought that, I must be a bit sick.

Several more people, some emboldened to take bigger chunks. I wondered how Yoko was feeling. Her expressionlessness was starting to look a little forced and I wouldn't have swapped places with her.

I started to notice the people around me. They would stand, watch and move on. Two students stayed for longer. An older couple with mild Scouse accents made some Lennon comments but didn't really look. Not much registering on these people's faces either.

AMUSEMENT - the nipple cutter is back! He's enjoying himself.

At this point I started to feel quite uncomfortable. I began to wonder whether people were looking at me. Was I taking an unhealthy interest in Yoko losing her clothes? Were people staring at me?

More men and women dissecting and hacking. Ono is wearing a slip. This is sliced and we are down to her bra. These too have undergone much redesign! The straps are severed, the last act of the nipple man, and Ono swiftly covers herself.

The film ends and loops back to the start.




Cut Piece - Yoko Ono