Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono (b.1933) was commissioned for the Folkestone Triennial in 2014 and three manifestations of Earth Peace remain on loan to the town, all located at The Grand:

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• There is a flag, flown annually on International Peace Day;

• An inscribed stone, set in the grass on The Leas outside The Grand;

• And a message in morse code beamed out by a light over the Channel.

 

The Grand is next door to the former Metropole Arts Centre, where Yoko Ono staged an event in 1966. During her return to Folkestone in 2014, she said ‘Liverpool is always very special to me because of John, and I love London, of course. But now I have added Folkestone to my list of special places... I thought I was coming to a sleepy little town, but I found this amazing energy, so much activity – a kind of spiritual rising… Folkestone is a town that wants the world to know that it likes art, that it is sensitive to art, and I wanted to promote that idea.’

 

Further to the East along The Leas there are memorials to those who have lost their lives in war. As a young person, Yoko Ono witnessed the catastrophic effects of war in Japan, and the desire for peace has been a consistent message within her work as an artist, which more broadly aims to provoke thought and challenge people’s understanding both of art and of the world around them.

 

Warning: Yoko Ono’s morse code message, which is beamed out from the roof of The Grand, may not be suitable for people with photosensitive epilepsy.

 

Courtesy Folkestone Artworks and Yoko Ono Foundation

 

          Roof of The Grand

 

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