Yoko Ono, A Box of Smile, 1967/2024

Yoko Ono has generously produced A Box of Smile, 1967/2024, a limited edition artwork to coincide with the exhibition, Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, at Tate Modern, 15 February – 1 September 2024.

Ono’s limited edition for Tate is a new iteration of a work which was originally conceived in 1967 and revisited at several moments in her life and career. A Box of Smile is closely related to Ono’s early work, Self Portrait, 1965, a manila envelope containing a mirror. Through these and other works, Ono redefined the traditional genre of self-portraiture, letting ‘self’ stand for the viewer rather than the maker, reiterating her belief that everyone is an artist.

The title of the work, A Box of Smile, functions as an instruction to the viewer who, when opening the lid, smiles in surprise upon discovering the mirror inside. Like many of Ono’s works, this participatory action activates the artwork. The first iteration of the work was a small, handheld box made from sterling silver and with the text ‘A BOX OF SMILE Y.O. ‘67’ engraved on the front. Ono revisited the concept of A Box of Smile in 1968, made in platinum as a gift for John Lennon. A larger cardboard version was created for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s One-to-One benefit concert in New York City in 1972. Other iterations of A Box of Smile have been produced in plastic, stainless steel and bronze. A new limited edition of A Box of Smile has been produced in wood especially for Tate.

About the Artist

Yoko Ono (b.1933, Tokyo, Japan) is a leading figure in conceptual and performance art, experimental film and music. Ideas are central to her art, often expressed in poetic, humorous and radical ways. Ono, who developed her practice in Japan, the USA and the UK, is a trailblazer of early conceptual and participatory art, film and performance, a celebrated musician, and a formidable campaigner for world peace and environmental causes. Her influence spans many of the key artistic movements of recent decades including Fluxus, Conceptual art and film.

Selected major exhibitions include Yoko Ono: This Room Moves at the Same Speed as the Clouds, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland (2022); Yoko Ono: The Learning Garden of Freedom, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal (2020); The Reflection Project + Add Color (Refugee Boat), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, USA (2019); Yoko Ono: Lumiére de L’aube, MAC Lyon, Lyon, France (2016); Yoko Ono: From My Window, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (2015-2016); THE RIVERBED, Galerie Lelong and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, USA (2015); Yoko Ono: One Woman Show 1960-1971, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2015); War Is Over! (if you want it): Yoko Ono, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (2013). Selected early exhibitions include Painting and Drawings of Yoko Ono, AG Gallery, New York, USA (1961); Works of Yoko Ono, Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, USA (1961); Works of Yoko Ono, Sogetsu Art Center, Tokyo Japan (1962); performance of Cut Piece, Yamaichi Concert Hall in Kyoto, Japan (1964); Yoko Ono: Half-A-Wind Show, The Lisson Gallery, London, UK (1967); Unfinished Paintings and Objects by Yoko Ono, Indica Gallery, London, UK (1967).

Ono was honoured with the prestigious 8th Hiroshima Art Prize for her dedicated peace activism in 2011 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award at the 53rd Venice Biennale, Italy, in 2009. She created IMAGINE PEACE TOWER on Viðey Island, Iceland, in 2007, dedicated to John Lennon and symbolising their work together for peace. Ono lives and works in New York.

• Artist Yoko Ono
• Artwork A Box of Smile
• Dimensions 6.5 x 6.5 x 6.5 cm
• Material Hand-made American walnut box with mirror in base and engraving on lid
• Edition Edition of 45, accompanied by a certificate authenticated with the artist’s inkan
• Date of work 1967/2024