On Kawara's 'One Million Years' Performance Documented at Trafalgar Square in 2004

A photograph by Marcus Leith documents conceptual artist On Kawara's performance piece 'One Million Years (Past and Future)' at Trafalgar Square in London during 2004. The image captures Kawara reading from his extensive date-based work, which systematically lists years spanning one million years into both past and future. This performance represents a key moment in Kawara's lifelong exploration of time, existence, and daily practice through date paintings and conceptual works. The documentation was published on artcritical.com on July 13, 2014, as part of their online coverage. Kawara's 'One Million Years' project consists of two sets of volumes—one for past years and one for future years—that have been performed internationally by pairs of readers in various institutional settings. The Trafalgar Square presentation brought this meditative work into a prominent public space in the UK capital. Kawara's practice, characterized by meticulous date documentation and conceptual rigor, has significantly influenced contemporary art's engagement with temporality and systems. The photograph serves as visual evidence of this specific public performance within Kawara's broader artistic investigation of chronological measurement and human consciousness.