Yoko Ono dedicates D.C. ‘wish’ tree to encourage public participation in art

WASHINGTON – Artist Yoko Ono hung a wish for love and peace in the world from a tree she dedicated Monday at the Hirshhorn Museum’s Sculpture Garden.\nThe “Wish Tree for Washington D.C.” is part of an ongoing project Ono started in the 1990s to encourage the public to get involved in art. Viewers can write their wishes on small pieces of paper and tie them onto the tree.\nOno’s wish read, “Let’s cover the planet with our love and make it a peaceful world for all of us and our offsprings.” Others’ wishes on the Hirshhorn tree were for peace in Africa, an end to gang violence and “to get a promotion this year.”\nTen wish trees are installed around the city as part of the “Street Scenes: Project for DC” art program. The trees are at the steps of the Jefferson Memorial as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, at the Town Hall Education, Arts & Recreation Campus in Anacostia and at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on the National Mall.\nThe Hirshhorn’s tree, a white Japanese flowering dogwood, will remain as permanent artwork while the other trees will be planted in the Anacostia community when the installation concludes April 15.\nOno, the widow of singer John Lennon, said she has collected more than 100,000 wishes from people around the world, including those from other wish trees in Europe and Asia. The wishes will become part of her “Imagine Peace Tower,” an art installation that will open in October 2007 in Reykjavik, Iceland.\n“Any wish that you make is part of the wishes of the human race,” Ono said.