The iconic contemporary artist will be leading a mass pilgrimage in which participants will be invited to send and receive “I Love You” messages by shining small flashlights on Newcastle’s Castle Keep.

The event will follow a talk by Ono to launch a new retrospective display at the Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art.

One of the largest exhibitions of her work to date, Between The Sky And My Head features a variety of conceptual pieces inviting audience interactivity, including a number of installations located outside the gallery as part of this year’s NewcastleGateshead Winter Festival.

Members of the public will be invited to express their hopes and dreams at strategically placed ‘Wish Trees’, and Film No 5 (Smile), a 1968 recording of a single smile of John Lennon evolving over the course of 51 minutes, will be projected onto buildings in Newcastle and Gateshead.

Tickets for the talk, which takes place on Sunday, December 14 are £10 (£6 for concessions), and are on sale from 9am on Friday. Visit www.ticketweb.co.uk or call 0844 477 1000. The exhibition runs until Sunday, March 15 2009.