From 13.42pm UK time on Monday 21 June, Tate Liverpool will join galleries and institutions around the world to present Yoko Ono’s T.V. to See the Sky, a live 24-hour video streaming of the sky in more than 60 locations via Zoom.
The project, which will broadcast the sky above the gallery at Royal Albert Dock and will give viewers the opportunity to see the skies across all seven continents.
This is the first time T.V. to See the Sky has been actualised and viewers will be able to zoom around the world seeing a range of skies from other participants including The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, Greenland National Museum and Archives, Nuuk, Greenland and British Antarctic Survey, Halley Research Station, Antarctica.
This event is inspired by Yoko Ono’s second conceptualization of SKY T.V. in 1967 for the Lisson Gallery, which she described as “a T.V. just to see the sky. Different channels for different skies, high-up sky, low sky, etc”.
SKY T.V. 1966 (furniture piece) was a video sculpture described by Ono as “a closed circuit T.V. set up in the gallery for looking at the sky”. It broadcasts a live video feed of the sky from above the building where it was installed—a way to bring the sky inside, even if a space lacked windows.
In collaboration with Yoko Ono, the Getty Research Institute and the Feminist Center for Creative Work in Los Angels will present a 24-hour video streaming of the sky via Zoom. A network of international institutions will participate in a live broadcast of the sky transmitted to audiences at home.
At a time of profound revolution and reflection, a time of restricted travel but great desire for connection, we seek to draw upon Ono’s invocation of the sky as a space of generative possibility and renewal as well as a territory beyond the reach of capital and ownership. The event takes place on 21 June, 2021 to coincide with and celebrate the Solstice and the Strawberry Moon Eclipse (20-24 June).
To view Yoko Ono’s T.V. to See the Sky viewers can register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SRK9XUXLSQOd0lQi35yWWQ or watch a live stream via the YouTube channel at the Getty Research Institute https://www.youtube.com/c/gettyresearch
Image credit line: ‘The sky above Los Angeles’
