Ono had a complicated relationship with the Museum of Modern Art. Her first show there in 1971 was only partially real. Ono had posted an ad in the New York Times and Village Voice, declaring a one-woman art show in MoMA. She was shown walking beneath the entrance of MoMA between the words “modern” and “art, carrying a sign with the letter “F”. The Museum of Modern [F]art, Ono claimed, included Ono herself standing in the gardens of MoMA and releasing a jar of flies. A sign outside the entrance encouraged viewers to follow them as they dispersed across the city. A small sign stuck to the ticket counter read “This is Not Here”.

She interviewed people leaving the museum, asking them questions. Did they see the one-woman show? Did they like it? Most replied that they did, and they hated it.

In retrospect 44 years later, Ono said simply, “of course there were no flies, and no jar. It was just in your mind.”

“You see,” she continued during an interview in her kitchen, “all of us artists, we were trying to find a place to present our work. We just had a little strange feeling [in 1971] about something so established as the Museum of Modern Art.” There were hardly any female, young, or Asian artists exhibited in MoMA at the time.