ESSAY The Remembering Rope by Polly Devlin For new readers and seasoned ones ... This is the seventh episode in the loose concoction called The Remembering Rope a series of memories describing the fruits of my travels and my addiction to collecting an addiction which skewed my life as all addictions do. As I move through my house past the pictures and objects I also see my past life in geographical detail and in memorable panorama. I try not to be like a priestess guarding a shrine but theres an element of that in it. So I also try to cull and its difficult. I still slightly mourn the ones that get away. A cold coming WE had of it. 1971. Two hundred miles north of New York. Syracuse. I remember it as being in January because there was snow everywhere, but it was in October, and a blizzard had come blasting in. (FYI Syracuse city receives the most annual average snow of any metropolitan area in the United States. Bet you didnt know that?) So suddenly WE were all bedded down in a small hotel in Syracuse which didnt know what had hit it. What had hit it was an art exhibition many voluble critics thought was something other and less than art. The artist in question? Yoko Ono. She ignored criticism and her work thrived on a multitude of stylistic possibilities. There was nothing ambiguous or shifting about her. She was steadfast in her belief in her genius. Fair play to her. So the WE here, in this unready hotel, are Yoko Ono, of course, and John Lennon, who never left her side, and a raggle-taggle band of journalists, liggers and hangers-on. Oh, and me. WE had all rushed up from New York for her first semi-retrospective exhibition. (1971! semi-retrospective! and shes still going strong.) The show was called This is Not Here, revisiting and recreating more or less concrete work conceived by her from the beginning of her days in New York as an avant-garde artist. She was a sort of member of Fluxus, that interdisciplinary community of artists, composers and poets who were dedicated to the intangible rather than the specific in the true bohemia that was the vivid, vigorous and almost anarchic artistic life of Greenwich Village in the 1950s. They invented and performed the impromptu art Happenings of the 1950s and 1960s. If you dont know I cant explain here, but for example in Cut Piece, Yoko, on stage, had her dress cut off piece by piece with sharp scissors by random 30 February 2021 THE GLOSS MAGAZINE members of the audience inviting trouble you might say, as she did. Or it arrived, whether she invited it or not. WE were joined on opening day by over 6,000 Beatles fans who hoped the event might actually be a secret concert. Blissful ignorance all round. Ringo was in there somewhere, lurking as usual. I was with them because I was in New York for over a week doing a long interview with John. We were staying in the St Regis hotel, and as I remember they had taken a whole floor there. One morning I walked down the corridor looking for them and found myself in a room devoted solely to accessories. Belts. Many many belts. Handbags. Many many handbags. Hats? Hats. Many. Oh and, and bracelets and Ill stop there but it was obvious someone didnt know how to stop shopping. Someone after my own heart. (Now her vast wardrobe is kept in dedicated rooms in her multiple apartments in the Dakota Building on Central Park West where the annual service charges of one apartment would buy a small house.) So when John and Yoko, probably the most fabulously famous and derided couple in the world, set off for her first ever exhibition, in the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse naturally enough, I followed. I already sort of knew about the museum, SHE IGNORED built only a couple of years before, and designed by IM Pei (most famous now, CRITICISM AND HER WORK THRIVED I think, for the Louvre Glass Pyramid). It was/is a brutalist masterpiece which ON A MULTITUDE made other museums look archaic and elitist, which of course they were/are. OF STYLISTIC Now an architectural landmark, then the POSSIBILITIES. building was a matter of controversy. THERE WAS I was full of anxious anticipation. It NOTHING was no barrel of laughs being with those two I can tell you ... egos the size of the AMBIGUOUS museum. No-one seemed to have much OR SHIFTING idea about the show and its contents and ABOUT HER. fake spontaneity seemed the key. But far PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS / HAPPY WITH WHAT WE HAVE / FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWDS / TALKING POINTS MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021 with THE IRISH TIMES www.thegloss.ie DRESSING DOWN CHANGING THINGS UP BROWN THOMAS, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN 2 CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE THE GLOSS MONTHLY REMINDER SIGN UP to receive a monthly reminder by email when THE GLOSS is out so that you never miss an issue. Simply register your details on WWW.THEGLOSS.IE. PU B LI S H E R JA N E M C D O N N E LL E D I TO R SA RA H M C D O NN E LL D E PU T Y E D I TO PEOPLE PLACES THINGS TWO UP LEAGUE CO U Gloss~ip February fashion, fiction and frivolity ES Y IV Frida Kahlo, Winston Churchill and Edith Warton all loved WFB (working from bed) à la Miss Monocle by Slim Aarons. RS MICHAEL KORS Upgrade lockdown learning with The Science of Well-Being Course Always set the right atmosphere. inductionAir Plus guarantees fresh air in your open kitchen and maximum flexibility for perfect hosting thanks to the combination of a modern induction hob with a powerful and integrated ventilation unit. siemens-home.bsh-group.com/ie The future moving in. BSH Grou PEOPLE PLACES THINGS A ATHFLOW The new fashion buzz word for 2021? Athflow. It's where athleisure meets elegance. Smart enough for a client Zoom meeting, stretchy enough for an online Pilates class. Think flowy pull-on trousers, ballet pumps and wrap-around cardis, oversized shirting, jumpsuits a H PEOPLE PLACES THINGS is for fashion hook-ups. Designer Niamh ONeill has collaborated with vegan chef and sustainability advocate, Holly White, to co-create a six-piece eco-responsible capsule collection. The duo's versatile dresses, wrap tops, a silk-satin slip skirt and a bias-cut silk blouse ar Oat-based milk chocolate, ice cream, cheese, yoghurt, and even double cream are coming our way this year, according to Baileys food futurologist Dr Morgaine Gaye and a cohort of global treat makers. Expect other (Instagrammable) trends such as luxurious savoury spreads. Champagne butter and sloe gin WORKING OUT PEOPLE PLACES THINGS Beaded belt; www.chanel.com. WAISTS Waists are the focus for SS21. Specifically belted, bejewelled waists. How to get yours in shape this year? Smart home gyms are really taking off. Consider mirror training. A tech-enabled magic mirror (above) turns into a fancy NEW DISCOVERY SPORT PLUG-IN HYBRID CHARGED FOR ADVENTURE NEVER STOP DISCOVERING You can now take the kids to their various adventures more efficiently with the New Discovery Sport Plug-in Hybrid. 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