Yoko Ono to be awarded Venice Biennale Golden Lion

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono is being awarded a prestigious Golden Lion at the 53rd International Venice Biennale 2009, for Lifetime Achievement.

Peace activist Yoko will be presented the award alongside John Baldessari on 6th June 2009 during the opening of the 53rd International Art Exhibition titled Making Worlds.

Director Daniel Birnbaum said: "Yoko Ono and John Baldessari have shaped our understanding of art and its relationship to the world in which we live.

"Their work has revolutionized the language of art and will remain a source of inspiration for generations to come.

"The Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement are honouring two artists whose ground-breaking activities have opened new poetic, conceptual and social possibilities for artists around the globe working in all media."

Tokyo-born Yoko Ono is world renowned as a pioneer in performance and conceptual art, she is one of the most influential artists of our time.

Long before becoming an icon in popular culture and in peace activism, she developed artistic strategies that have left a lasting mark both in her native Japan and in the West.

Recently asking Beatles fans across the world to recreate a tribute Bed In ahead of the 40th anniversay of her honeymoon with John Lennon.

Californian John Baldessari is one today's most important visual artists. Often named the most important art teacher of our times, he has above all developed a visual language entirely his own.

Since the 1960s, he has worked in many disciplines and has produced an outstanding body of work that has inspired several generations of artists.

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