For the duration of the exhibition Spirit Labor, On Kawara’s book One Million Years: Past and Future will read aloud in Garage Atrium.
On Kawara’s One Million Years is a collection of 24 works, divided into two parts: One Million Years (Past) and One Million Years (Future). This enormous work contains a total of 2,000 pages. The years are distributed as follows: five hundred dates per page, in ten columns and fifty rows, meaning one human life occupies only a few lines on the page.
In 1993, Kawara extended One Million Years by adding live readings according to his original script. The readers—a man and a woman—appear in pairs. The male reader pronounces dates with odd numbers and the female reader with even numbers. Public readings always take place in English. Each session begins at the point in the book where the previous one ended and continues until the contents of all 24 works have been read. Since 1993, 37 live book readings have been held in 25 cities across the world.
Anyone can participate in the performance by signing up for a convenient time using the link below. Those who do not identify with their biological sex can choose the dates they would like to read.
With the support of the One Million Years Foundation, xxx
