Chicago Will Be First Permanent U.S. Home To A Piece Of Yoko Ono's Artwork
By Danette Chavez in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 14, 2015 6:00PM
Chicago will be home to the country's first permanent public art installation by Yoko Ono. The artist, performer and widow of John Lennon was joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Japanese dignitaries in Hyde Park on Friday to make the announcement in a private "ground healing" ceremony.
Ono's slated work, called SKY LANDING, will be part of the revitalized Garden of the Phoenix, which will be built on the former site of the Phoenix Pavilion on Wooded Island in Jackson Park that was destroyed in a fire in 1946. The original pavilion was part of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, but remained in Jackson Park even after the close of the fair "to be a place for future generations to continue to learn about Japan and experience Japanese culture".
After the fire destroyed it, the pavilion site sat empty for 60-plus years, but in 2013, 120 cherry trees were planted to symbolize its 120-year history. The move also heralded a new beginning for the park, with the spirit of "Eastern and Western collaboration" informing the revitalization efforts, which are led by Project 120. The local nonprofit group is inspired by architect Frederick Law Olmsted's original vision for the park, but also have a mission to make the grounds accessible to new and future generations of visitors.
Ono has been discreet about the specifics of SKY LANDING, but has made her motivation clear: "I want the sky to land here, to cool it and make it well again." The "it" is Chicago, a city the artist is more than a little fond of—in a 2014 interview with Nora Halpern, Ono said "whenever I think of Lake Michigan, my heart starts to beat fast, as if I've met my old love!"