There’s this culture imposed at school, the plays we have to read, poems we have to learn, black and white documentaries during which we fall asleep at least 10 times. There’s all that culture that we consider as the “poison of our childhood”, the worm in the apple of our creativity; and one day we grow up and take back this Edgar Poe’s book and after reading a few pages we realize that “waow, that guy was pretty good in fact!” (and we understand why ‘this guy’ is so popular). I reread the poems (I’ve always loved words, might be the reason why I write here every day…), I’ve tried to rewatch the documentaries, it worked for some but I fell asleep in front of others (I never said that by growing up we would LOVE every single thing our teachers fed us with). And then I discovered the museums, I fell in love with them in San Marino, I remember myself admiring the paintings, so precise, so pure, as the sun was impossible to bear outside.
I know that for some of you (and some of us too), museums sound like a senior day-out, you have to be silent, behave well, and on top of that it’s expensive; well, you go there more under obligation than by choice. But trust me this exhibition is really different. It’s at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and it’s called The Peace Ballad of John and Yoko. Then you think this exhibition is focused on one of the Beatles, but in fact it’s not only on one of the Beatles, it’s more about the relationship between John Lennon and Yoko Ono through their works, their story, their fight (peaceful, it goes without saying), their ideology. The exhibition spreads out on 7 rooms with famous pictures and less famous ones, videos, hand written texts, a piano with the score of ‘Imagine’ (if you want to feel like the Great John), white and…white chess sets (as explained, they chose them only white to live in synergy rather than opposition), a wish tree, a rebuilt bed looking like the one John and Yoko had for their bed-in), a phone thanks to which you’ll be able to talk to Yoko once a day (at least that’s what is said…)
It’s a LIVELY exhibition, it’s interactive, different and free (they couldn’t set an exhibition based on peace and ask for a 15 dollars-admission!)
I know that these days, the “peace and love man!” sounds a bit old fashioned, old ways of thinking; our society is a bit more shrewish; but trust me, after the exhibition you’ll feel calm, almost enrolled in a peaceful fight, you’ll want to listen again to your Plastic Ono Band vinyl discs and turn vegetarian (if it’s not already the case)
I was educated by the 60s rock music (and the Beatles of course) thanks to daddy, but I’m neutral (or at least trying to be), and I can tell you that this exhibition is really worth going to and has the same philosophy as Wordans : free speech, keeping our own personality and move forward (our custom t-shirts are another way of expression as music was for John Lennon and many more)
Com’on, give peace a chance!
