SSM hosts landmark Yoko Ono retrospective
The most comprehensive exhibition of works by Japanese artist Yoko Ono ever presented in Türkiye has opened at Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), offering visitors an extensive overview of the pioneering artist’s seven-decade career and her influential contributions to contemporary art.
Titled “Yoko Ono: Insound and Instructure,” the exhibition has been realized in collaboration with Castile and León Museum of Contemporary Art (MUSAC) in León, Spain. Following its presentation at MUSAC between November 2025 and May 2026, the exhibition opened in Istanbul on June 25 and will remain on view through Dec. 27.
Bringing together 67 works produced over more than 70 years, the exhibition traces Ono’s artistic journey from the avant-garde circles of New York in the late 1950s to the large-scale installations and participatory projects that have defined her later career. The show includes instruction pieces, conceptual works, performances, films, photographs, drawings, sculptures, videos and installations, reflecting the breadth of a practice that has consistently challenged conventional definitions of art.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, SSM Director Professor Ahu Antmen said Ono’s life and artistic career mirror many of the major cultural and political transformations of the 20th century.
