ABSTRACT
In 1969, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, multimedia Fluxus artist Yoko Ono and rock superstar John Lennon instigated a series of artistic events designed to spread a universal message of peace. Their self-proclaimed “Year of Peace” was a multi-pronged media campaign that utilized advertising, radio and television interviews, performance art, and rock music to communicate their message. This chapter concentrates on one of the most famous of these “Year of Peace” events: the War Is Over! campaign launched in December of that year. It makes clear how the couple adapted practices honed by the antiwar movement, the counterculture, and Madison Avenue to construct an effective space in the public sphere for political activism and socially engaged art.
