Yoko Ono will direct the 2013 Meltdown Festival. The festival, started twenty years ago and hosted by the Southbank Centre in London, invites a guest curator each year — previous directors include Morrissey, Louis Andriessen, David Bowie, Scott Walker, Nick Cave, Laurie Anderson and Massive Attack. The 2012 festival was curated by Antony Hegarty.

Ono, who turns eighty next year, will combine ‘music, visual art and peace activism’ in her version of the festival, which will take place on 14—23 June 2013.

Speaking of her appointment as director, Ono said, ‘I am deeply honoured to curate the world-famous Meltdown Festival. In doing so I am aware of the great tradition of experimentalism mixed with classicism that has made the festival such an enduring part of the British arts landscape. I am now starting to approach names from all over the world, some of whom you will know and some who might be new to your world. Let the fun begin!’

southbankcentre.co.uk