Yoko Ono

What is your greatest wish? At Papirøen guests could share their dreams and participate in the artist Yoko Ono’s installation Wish Tree Garden. The installation was created specifically for Copenhagen Contemporary and was a permanent feature of the harbour area in front of the halls until December 2017.

Since 1996, Yoko Ono has been creating the artwork Wish Tree, which consists of one or more trees installed all around the world. The work is site-specific; that is, each tree species is chosen for its importance to the location, and when possible, is indigenous to the place and its climate, in collaboration with Ono. On a slip of paper, a so-called ‘wish tag’, anyone can write a wish and hang it on the branches of the trees. In Wish Tree Garden at Papirøen, trees from the Danish and Asian landscape grew on the Copenhagen quayside. Lilac, Reed Gråsten apple, Cornelian cherry dogwood, magnolia and tibetan cherry trees all created the impression of a garden you could walk in and see blossom, change colour and loose the leaves in the course of the changing seasons. The slips of paper on the branches of the trees fluttered in the wind, and all the individual wishes gave the garden a poetic dimension.

All the wishes were regularly collected and when the exhibition ended they were sent to Yoko Ono. Eventually, wishes from all over the world will be gathered together in Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower on the island of Viðey in Kollafjörður Bay, Iceland: an art installation that consists of a tall column of light dedicated to Ono’s late husband, John Lennon. The wishes from CC joined millions of others that have already been collected since 1996 from other places in the world, and are now placed at the Peace Tower.

The exhibition was supported by

15. Juni Fonden