IK: Yoko, you said that sometimes you create a work of art to make a point - does it matter if someone viewing the piece gets a different meaning from it, other than the one you intended?

YOKO: Oh, it doesn't matter at all. In fact, that's the joy of it, that sometimes I find out that there was another meaning to the work.

IK: Must the artist suffer for his or her work? Do you have to be depressed or angry to create works of art? Can happy people be creative?

YOKO: Of course! Though, as I said in the lecture, it's very hard for us to be totally comfortable at this point. I think we all share the anxiety that the whole world is feeling. You don't have to be totally depressed to create anything. In fact, when you're totally depressed, it might be very difficult to create.

For instance, quite often, when John was depressed and he'd be drawing something, the drawing had a kind of sense of humor, even when he was very depressed, and I wondered if that's the way he tried to keep his mood up, or maybe the sense of humor snuck in anyway - because he was that kind of person. Sometimes artists can be very happy and satisfied. But at the same time knowing what is going on in the world, they like to express that side of it. It has to do with the artist's sensitivity.

IK: When I first read about "Endangered Species", it made me think you'd given up hope for humanity. I wondered if, as an artist, you'd lost hope for our world.

YOKO: I'm not losing hope at all. There's one group of people who think the human race is such a horrible race, and we are being so detrimental to the world and other animals that it would be great if we disappear. In fact, that the only way the world will survive is if the human race disappears! And there are also the people who say society's downfall is reflected in the violence in the streets and in various countries in terms of war. That's how people are starting to feel. We're starting to dislike ourselves and we're starting to hate the way we are.

I wanted to show the beautiful qualities that we have. Even at the point of melt-down, the father is reaching out to his family to protect them and the mother is holding the daughter's hand, while the boy's thinking about the greening of the world. It shows the beautiful, touching side of human nature.

And, of course, this is supposed to be an exhibition sometime ater peace. This is a family and their thought forms which have been excavated. It's like a science fiction thing, with the excavators saying that probably these people and their thought forms belong to "B-P-100", Before Peace 100. I was trying to show how powerful our beautiful natures are, that they would even shine through when we're excavated in 200 years' time, or 300 years' time.

IK: The "Blood Objects" are disturbing, which I'm sure you meant them to be.

YOKO: I think that if you use violence in terms of titillation and entertainment like what they're doing on TV and films, that's horrible. But at the same time, if you're showing it as reality, as a point of reference from where we can together go into a better future, it's very important to show it, instead of just preaching about peace without showing reality. We would really be out of touch that way. We have to realize that this is what's going on.

People who are suffering in a family situation, with family violence, quite often feel ashamed of it and don't want to tell others. They feel it's a very private experience and I just wanted to bring it out and say this is what we share. We all went through some family tragedy. Violence is not limited to wars and street crimes, but is coming into homes as well. That's the reality I wanted to share. Then we start talking.

IK: When you create an object (such as the large "Play it By Trust" piece) in your mind's eye, then how do you actually turn the thought form into the solid form. Do you have a studio and workers to help you?

YOKO: I'm a conceptual artist, so I designed the chairs, how they should look, and designed the table and how it should be. But then I asked a carpenter - a very, very good carpenter - to make it for me. The "Play it By Trust" is that way. With the "Endangered Species", I was much more involved than that.

First I felt that I should get the right people as models. Somebody suggested, "Well all you have to do is call the model agency and say 'I want a little boy who is 10 and little girl..'" I didn't want it that way. I really felt that this is a piece that has to communicate and speak to people on the highest and most delicate level. It shouldn't be somebody who's been hired. It had to be a real family.

When I went to Iceland to do a museum show there, I met this family and was very impressed with them. There was a certain kind of peaceful quietness amongst them. They weren't trying to overtly express their intimacy, but you knew that they were a beautiful family unit. I asked them if it was all right, if they wouldn't mind posing for me as models for this piece. I explained the piece and told them they'd have to take off all their clothes. They understood all that and were very nice. I brought them all the way from Iceland and had everything prepared.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY

It was a very shocking and frightening experience for them to be plastered. First we made a wax mold of them, then I built a little room in a factory where we do all the casting. There's a little window, but other than that, it's totally enclosed. I put the wax figures on the bench, and lots of heaters: gas heaters, electric, everything! to make it very hot. Then the wax figures started to melt.

I was really nervous, because if it started to melt and if it melted all over the place, then that's the end of it. I'd have to do it from scratch! So when it came to a certain point, I'd say, "Quick! Take the father out!" So, the father's taken out of the room and dipped in cold water. Then that was fixed. Then I made a bronze form out of the wax form. Each one had a different melting point.

It was nerve-wracking. Before all that, I photographed them when they were just sitting around in my living room. Then one day I went all over New York City and photographed all the landscape photos. Between those and the photos of the family, I made collages in the computer. Those are the Life Projections (Editor's Note: These accompany the sculptures on surrounding walls in the museum. Also accompanying the main melting figure of the family are sculptures of parts of the family's bodies - three on each mounting) This is a new attempt because it's sculpture in motion. It's all in threes. I got that idea from film, because in film you go (demonstrates frame-by-frame motion)...so I wanted 1-2-3 movement. Those sculptures were made from the same people.

IK: Some fans are touched by your music, some by your art. From your point of view, which gives you the most creative outlet..writing a song, or creating an "Endangered Species"?

YOKO: My first love is music. There's nothing I can do about it. I"m making this rock opera which is something that will be presented in New York this coming March. We have the theater, the producer and the director and it's something that I wrote the script and the music for. Of course, there are some familiar songs in it like "Midsummer New York". I also created four or five new songs as well. It's a story about this violent society,but there's a pocket of warmth..two people meeting and loving and confronting difficulties.

IK: Is this the same play that you and John were planning to do together about your lives?

YOKO: No, it's totally different. That one, I'm sort of keeping aside. This will not have John's music in it. This will not have the songs that I was going to use for that particular musical. I want to keep that still on the shelf. This one is a totally different story, and you'll see that. The title was originally "Waiting for the Sunrise" and now it's "New York Rock."

Most people say, "Oh, because of the success of 'Tommy', is that what you're doing?" No. The script was written in 1989 and since then I was looking for the outlet. That kind of thing takes time. Now luckily there's a theater that wants to do it. My mind is full of music now. I'm thinking about that all the time.

IK: Speaking of music, regarding this rap situation with the Beatle songs..some people feel it's a form of censorship to deny the rap artists an opportunity to re-work Beatle songs in their style. How do you feel about that?

YOKO: It's very cut and dry. We get many requests like that and when they come to us, if they are not changing the lyrics at all, then we say "Yes" and if they change the lyrics we say "No."

IK: What do you think of the Barenaked Ladies' song, "Be My Yoko Ono"?

YOKO: I think it's kind of cute.

IK: A lot of people think that you'd be insulted by the song.

YOKO: Well, it's all tongue-in-cheek. I don't have to be portrayed as the Angel Goddess all the time. They don't anyway! (Laughs) But, it's kinda fun.

IK: I get asked a lot about Sean. How's he doing?

YOKO: He got accepted into a few very difficult universities and he chose one in New York City - he's attending university now. Aside from that, he's very, very into music. I'm delighted because most of his classmates decided to move out of the town where their parents are living. Everybody thought he was crazy that he would stay in New York, but it's something that I cherish a lot.

IK: Does he plan to finish his education before he would consider doing anything musically on a professional level?

YOKO: I don't know. I don't know if he's even going to go though the university education route. It's up to him, and if music gets heavier than this in his life, obviously he couldn't be doing the studies. He seems to be a very complex person already, and he is able to deal with a few things at once, so maybe he could manage to do them both.

IK: In the 60's and 70's, your main focus seemed to be peace and the women's movement. What do you feel are the main issues in 1993?

YOKO: We just have to understand that we are now really living in the Global Village that was projected. Whatever we do affects others right away and affects the whole world. Each one of us has to be very caring, and as I said this afternoon, the only enemy is the ignorance and violence within us. We are all on the same side in that sense. If we are all very concerned and together, maybe we can change it.