Wish Tree is an ongoing art installation series by Japanese artist Yoko Ono, started in 1996, in which a tree native to a site is planted under her direction. Viewers are usually invited to tie a written wish to the tree except during the winter months when a tree can be more vulnerable. Locations of the piece have included New York City, St. Louis, Detroit, Wish Tree for Washington, DC, San Francisco, Pasadena, and Palo Alto, California, Tokyo, Venice, Paris, Dublin, London, Exeter, England, Finland and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Calgary.
Her 1996 Wish Piece had the following instructions:
Installations have involved from one to 21 trees, and varieties include lemon trees, eucalyptus, and crepe myrtles. To honor wish writers' privacy, Ono claims she does not read the wishes, and collects them all to be buried at the base of the Imagine Peace Tower on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay in Iceland. To date over 1 million wishes have been buried beneath the tower.
History The series developed after an installation of one tree in Finland grew into a mini-forest, and Ono felt a continuing social need. She has also said:
In fall 2010, Ono performed Voice Piece for Soprano, near the MoMA rendition of the piece as part of the museum's collections show. Musician Pharrell Williams wrote on one in New York in 2013.
Locations Year City or country Institution or group, if known Title, if known Tree type, if known Other Before 1996 Finland 1996 Alicante, Valencia, Spain pomegranate 2002 San FranciscoSFMoMA Exeter, England 2003 Venice, Italy Peggy Guggenheim Collection Wish Tree Venice 2003. To Peggy with Love x Yoko olive tree Permanent installation 2007 Washington, DC Hirshhorn Museum gardensWish Tree for Washington, DCdogwood São Paulo, Brazil Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo Yoko Ono - Uma Retrospectivahttps://acervo.mac.usp.br/acervo/index.php/Detail/objects/22750ficus benjamina 10/11/2007 to 03/02/2008 2008 Pasadena, California One Colorado shopping center Wish Tree for Pasadena 21 crepe myrtle trees Permanently installed at Arlington Garden, Pasadena2009 Palo Alto, California Stanford University campus two lemon trees Tokyo 2010 New York City MoMA Oberlin, OhioOberlin College 2012 New York City Occupy Wall Street (Zuccotti Park) Wish Tree for Zuccotti Park Project altered to distribution of 10,000 postcards after fall 2011 police raid of park Dublin Wish Tree for Ireland London Serpentine Galleries Wish Tree for London StockholmModerna MuseetWish Tree for Stockholmgrapefruit 2012-13 Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn Museum 2013St. Louis Saint Louis Art Museum Sydney, Australia Museum of Contemporary Art SydneyWish Tree for Sydneysix eucalyptus 2014 Orlando and Tampa, Florida Hard Rock Cafe locations 2016 Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach Art Center Wish Tree for Manhattan Beach unknown Temporary installation Buenos Aires, Argentina MALBA Part of Yoko Ono retrospective 2018 New York City Performa 17 unknown Temporarily installed at festival headquarters 2019 Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Blickachsen Wish Trees for Bad Homburg apple treeFranceChâteau la CosteWish Trees8 olive treesPermanent installation2022LiverpoolYoko Ono Lennon CentreWish TreesoliveTemporary installation2024LondonTate ModernWish Trees for LondonoliveTemporary installation New YorkPark Avenue ArmoryWish TreeTemporary installation BerlinMartin Gropius Bau & Neue National GalleryWish Tree for BerlinoliveTemporary installationBochum, GermanySituation Kunst, Museum unter TageWish TreeTemporary installation
References