Narrator: On the floor of this gallery is a work based on an instruction Yoko Ono wrote in 1960: "Leave a piece of canvas or finished painting on the floor or in the street." She enacted this instruction the next year, in 1961, as part of an exhibition in New York.
Artist, Yoko Ono: For me, it was very important to give each piece an original function. I wanted to first get a canvas. I went to an army surplus shop, and I thought maybe there's something here. There was a rolled canvas, very, very tall—because I was short, probably—but it was just in a corner. And I think it was about either 58 cents or 68 cents.
I went home and I started to cut pieces. So I kept cutting, and when I wanted to do Painting to Be Stepped On, I didn't have enough canvas. There was a kind of strange shape that was remaining there. I thought, “Well, this could be Painting to Be Stepped On, why not?” It doesn't have to be all square. And I had a little card, and it said: “Painting to be stepped on.”
And I thought that was beautiful. You know, a different kind of beauty. I think that conceptual art opens up things within people's minds. And it's asking you to use your creativity and add it to the work.
Narrator: The artist has created different realizations of this work over time. But each, including the one before you, invites the viewer to interact with the work by following the title’s prompt to step on the painting.