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Tuesday
Jan102012

Yoko Ono brings her project Wish Tree to Occupy Wall Street. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A short press conference will be held at Zuccotti park in Lower Manhattan on Saturday, January 14, 2011 at 1PM. Members of the OWS Arts & Culture & Occupy With Art groups will be distributing copies of an artwork that Ms. Ono created specially for OWS, and will be available to answer questions about to the project. 
 
Ono’s participatory project Wish Tree originated in 1996. It has since been re-imagined in various locations around the world, where people have been invited to write their personal wishes for peace and tie them to a tree branch. 
 
In accordance with the raid of Zuccotti Park, and its subsequent closure, and the ubiquitous nature of the Occupy movement, Ono has broadened the project. So now instead of literally placing wishes in the trees, she has made a postcard edition of 10,000 with written instructions to be distributed nationally by Occupy Wall Street groups. 

As a movement sparked by imagination, Wish Tree for Zuccotti Park encourages a continued re-imagination of OWS and the world we live in. 

Make a wish to any tree, in any occupation. 
 
About the Wish Tree project:

In Ono’s words (from http://imaginepeacetower.com):

“As a child in Japan, I used to go to a temple and write out a wish on a piece of thin paper and tie it around the branch of a tree. Trees in temple courtyards were always filled with people’s wish knots, which looked like white flowers blossoming from afar.

All My Works are a Form of Wishing.

Wishes can also be sent directly to Ono’s website and will be kept private. Ono assembles the wishes into another artwork, Imagine Peace Tower, based in Iceland.
 
 
Where: Zuccotti Park, Lower Manhattan – Broadway and Liberty Street
When: Sat. Jan. 14, 2012 1:00pm

Info: Project website: http://imaginepeacetower.com/yoko-onos-wish-trees 
Twitter ID: #IPTower
OWS Occupy With Art group: http://www.occupywithart.com/

Contacts:

Chris Cobb – occupypublishing@yahoo.com
Yaelle - contact@yaelleamir.com 

Reader Comments (4)

If wishes were horses
Beggars would ride:
If turnips were watches
I would wear one by my side.
And if capital could ever meet human needs
Populist movements would be enough.

January 11, 2012 | Unregistered Commenterjoe the slummer

I think this is very beautiful and we hope to coordinate some other events around this on Saturday. Is there some plan in place to deal with security/cops possibly objecting to these being hung on the trees? Will someone be there from Occupy with Art to help negotiate this. I actually hope Security does try to interfere - and lots of people are filming - as it will underline the core issue that has been happening all along with violation of civil liberties and first amendment rights in Liberty Square...including people arrested for lying down - and even sitting in a folding chair (an older woman who knits)
MorganJen OWS Re-Occupy w/Culture& Ideas

January 12, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterMorganJen

Hi Morgan -

We aren't hanging anything on trees. The cards are meant to prompt communication and conversation. All we will be doing is handing out cards and explaining the project. It would be great to have more groups rallying around this with your own events. The more the merrier!

see you there!
Yaelle

January 13, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterYSA

Yaelle! Awesome - that's great - ok - we'll go ahead and plan then....see you then.

January 13, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterMorganJen

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