Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England
2002-2003
November 19, 2002–January 25, 2023
The most comprehensive exhibition of work by On Kawara in the United Kingdom to date, this exhibition exemplified the artist’s ongoing preoccupation with the nature of human consciousness. It included 36 Date Paintings, one for each year since 1966, when the artist began making them, along with a rarely seen early drawing, Sundays of 100 Years. Also featured were more than 150 telegrams bearing the message “I am still alive,” which the artist sent to friends and colleagues, and two complementary works, One Million Years – Past and One Million Years – Future, listing the passage of time across thousands of pages. An installation in Ikon’s Tower consisting of a recording of two people reading from One Million Years – Past and One Million Years – Future accompanied the exhibition. The artist returned to Ikon in 2006, closing his exhibition tour of the world.