On Kawara: One Million Years

About

On Kawara's One Million Years is an epic work of conceptual art. It speaks simply and directly about a subject that is relevant to us all: the passage and marking of time. The monumental 20-volume work is comprised of Past, a typewritten record of the date of every year from 998,031 BC to 1969 AD and future, which accounts for 1996 AD to 1,001,995 AD. Past is dedicated to 'all those who have lived and died' and future is 'for the last one'. Conceived in 1969, live readings of the work have since been performed across the world, with a man and a woman alternating the reading of Past and future dates in numerical order.