One Million Years is one of the artist’s best-known works, as it speaks directly about what is relevant to us all: the passage and marking of time. In 1966, Kawara embarked upon his on-going Today series of date paintings, of which there are now thousands, each one consisting of the date on which it was made, meticulously painted in white on a plain colored background. The first audio presentation of the reading of One Million Years occurred in 1993 during Kawara’s yearlong solo exhibition “One Thousand Days One Million Years” at Dia Center for the Arts in New York. Visitors could hear One Million Years [Future] being read, while viewing One Million Years [Past] and a group of date paintings. The longest public reading from One Million Years took place at Documenta 11 in 2002, where male and female participants sat side-by-side in a glass enclosure taking turns reading dates for the duration of the 100-day exhibition, switching between [Past] and [Future]. In 2004, the project traveled to Trafalgar Square in London for a continuous outdoor reading lasting 7 days and 7 nights. Since then, readings and recordings have taken place in cities around the world including New Zealand.
