IK! - Biennale of Sydney 2000

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Yoko brought the J&Y film "SMILE" and the stunning coffin piece, "Ex It" to the Biennale of Sydney in May 2000. Her appearance at the Sydney Opera House May 26, kicked off the two-month art event in Sydney, Australia.

Yoko's lecture to a sold-out theater of 200 people was webcast live. Many people IK! has heard from, both in Australia and in the USA, were unable to see or hear the event, which was streamed via Quicktime4. The program is being archived on the Biennale of Sydney website for those who were unable to connect with it live.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Yoko talked about Ex it, which for the Sydney show features 100 coffins with Australian paperbark trees growing out of the opening where the dead person's face would normally be.

Yoko explains her feelings about Ex It: "It's about regeneration, it's about growth, it's about death and life."

Some art critics have written that 60 of the coffins represent men, 30 women and 10 children. But Yoko doesn't get that specific. She said: "I never counted. I wanted some coffins for children, some for women and some for men. But I never specified the numbers."

Yoko: "I was thinking vaguely in terms of unknown soldiers, so the coffins are modest ones, hurriedly made, not kind of elaborate coffins at all. And also, in terms of unknown soldiers, I am not talking about unknown soldiers in that literal sense, but we are all unknown soldiers...including women and children."

How do people react to the scene of 100 coffins filling an art museum or art gallery room? Yoko: "I did get reactions from people who felt it had a very calming effect, because a coffin is symbolizing something that may be very frightening, but the trees growing from it give people hope."