SYDNEY TO HOST YOKO ONO RETROSPECTIVE

SYDNEY (AFP) - Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) said Thursday it would host a retrospective of Yoko Ono's work which the avant-garde artist described as a show designed specially for Australia.

Titled "War Is Over! (If You Want It)" -- a reference to the famous billboards Ono and late Beatle John Lennon displayed in 12 cities worldwide in 1969 -- the exhibition will feature five decades of art in diverse forms.

"It is an incredible new show I've developed just for you," the New York-based Ono said in a statement from the museum. "There will be many fantastic installations and participation works from different times that I know you are going to love."

MCA director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor said the November 2013 survey of Ono's work, developed by senior curator Rachel Kent, was a major coup for the gallery.

"It offers Australians a rare opportunity to view the range of Yoko Ono's practice, which takes the form of performances, sculpture and installation, written texts, films, sound compositions, and participatory art works that involve gallery viewers in a range of activities," Macgregor said.

Ono, 79, said she was "excited and honored" to exhibit solo in Sydney for the first time.

"Until then Sydney, think peace, act peace, spread peace. I love you."

That Hippie Penny Lane