The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago will become the exclusive U.S. venue for "Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind," a comprehensive solo exhibition dedicated to the artist, musician, and activist Yoko Ono (b. 1933, Tokyo, Japan; currently residing in New York, NY), opening in October 2025.
Traveling from Tate Modern in London, where it achieved record-breaking attendance, and developed in close collaboration with Ono’s studio, this groundbreaking retrospective spans seventy years of Ono’s innovative career. The exhibition features over 200 works, including participatory instruction pieces and scores, installations, a curated music room, films, music, photography, and archival materials.
The exhibition highlights significant works from throughout Ono’s decades-long career, including the landmark performance piece "Cut Piece" (1964), a foundational work in performance and feminist art; her collaborations with prominent musicians such as John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and her late husband, John Lennon; selected activations of instruction-based artworks from her influential book "Grapefruit"(1964); innovative films from the 1960s and 1970s such as "FLY" (1970–71) and the once-banned "Film No.4 (Bottoms)" (1966–67), which she created as a "petition for peace"; recent works like her ongoing installation "Wish Tree" (1996–present); and public artworks emblematic of Ono’s enduring commitment to peace activism.
On Saturdays, Sundays, and select Tuesdays throughout the full run of Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, performers from all walks of life will activate Ono's deceptively simple "event scores" from her groundbreaking 1964 book Grapefruit.
Teen Creative Agency | Zine Fest 2025: The Power of Prints
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Dec 20, 2025 | 1–6 pm
The MCA’s Teen Creative Agency (TCA) is celebrating fourteen years (and counting) of DIY publications by teens! This event showcases the original artwork, activism, and social practice of Chicago-area youth in zine form. Join the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Teen Creative Agency for an afternoon of events and activities highlighting the past, present, and future of print making by Chicago teens. Visitors are invited to participate in activities organized by the TCA, such as zine making and on-site merch giveaways.
Kovler Atrium
Nov 4, 2025 | 6 pm
Experience the musical context of Yoko Ono’s early work with performances of five 1960s scores—by Mieko Shiomi, Nam June Paik, Takehisa Kosugi, and George Maciunas—and a new commission by MCA Chanel Fellow, Andrew Hansung Park. The performances track the destruction of a violin, smashing boundaries between everyday sound and music.
The MCA DNA Research Initiative is a multi-year curatorial program, supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund, that invites early-career curators and writers to the museum for interdisciplinary research projects related to the institution’s collection. Focused on the intersection of visual art and performance, this initiative surfaces overlooked art historical narratives within the organization’s history while foregrounding the cross-disciplinary ethos that has been integral to the museum since its founding in 1967.
Image: Yoko Ono with Glass Hammer, 1967, from Half-A-Wind Show, Lisson Gallery, London, UK, 1967. Artwork © Yoko Ono. Photo © Clay Perry.
