Yoko Ono’s Instructions for Improvising Across Art and Media

I’m excited to be heading to Chicago for the 2026 American Studies Association Annual Meeting, where I’ll be joining an interdisciplinary group of scholars and artists for “Yoko Ono’s Instructions for Improvising Across Art and Media.”

The session explores Ono’s instruction works as forms of improvisatory art and activism—asking how instructions can create possibilities for experimentation, resistance, and collective action within conditions of constraint. In the spirit of Ono’s work, this won’t be a conventional panel: lightning talks will be interspersed with opportunities for the audience to perform Ono’s instructions.

I’ll be presenting on Ono’s “Voice Piece for Soprano” alongside Amy Skjerseth, Brigid Cohen, and Aine Nakamura. I’m thrilled to share the session with such an exciting group of scholars and artists, bringing together perspectives from art history, media studies, musicology, and performance.

Saturday, October 24 · 1:45–3:15 PM
Palmer House · 3rd Floor · Marshfield
2026 American Studies Association Annual Meeting · Chicago

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