Simone Forti Talks Yoko Ono, Dance, and Aging in Never-Before-Published Interview
Hyperallergic published a never-before-published interview excerpt with performance artist Simone Forti (born 1935 in Italy) discussing Yoko Ono (born 1933 in Japan), their overlapping artistic milieus, and Forti’s recollections of encounters dating back to around 1960. The piece, framed by writer Julia Bryan-Wilson, notes Forti’s Jewish family left Italy due to Mussolini’s Racial Laws and highlights parallels between Forti’s and Ono’s cross-disciplinary practices across movement, sound, poetry, participation, and everyday objects. It references Ono’s 1961 work “Voice Piece for Soprano, to Simone Morris” (made when Forti was married to Robert Morris) and Forti’s “Huddle” (1961), as well as Forti’s 2015 essay “Simone Forti Goes to the Zoo.” The interview is presented in the context of Forti’s death “last week” at age 91 and includes Forti’s memory of sitting and talking with Ono on the PS1 roof.
From This Briefing
This story was covered in Museum Meltdowns and Art’s Arresting Protests