open call OMY — HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark

Reading-Performance

On Kawara, *One Million Years*, 1970 – 71 / 1980 – 1998
20 leather-bound postal folders in individual slipcases with plastic covers and inserted printed matter, each 29 x 24 x 8 cm, ©️One Million Years Foundation

On Kawara is considered one of the most important conceptual artists, whose approach to his work makes time and its experience perceptible from a human perspective. The monumental work One Million Years consists of two groups of bound volumes, One Million Years: Past and One Million Years: Future, with pages listing annual dates stretching one million years backwards in time and one million years forward. In his unique work, the artist developed various systems to depict and exhibit this. Understanding One Million Years not only as a book object, but also as a text for a reading that is performed together, has an opening character and emphasizes the temporal aspect, as well as the communal moment that art can have. Since its first reading, in 1993 at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, live readings of One Million Years have occurred around the world, each recitation picking up where the last left off.

As part of the performance program, HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark is pleased to perform this special work by On Kawara and to present the work in this lively format. HALLE FÜR KUNST is looking for volunteer readers who will sit in pairs at a table and take turns reading for half an hour before a new pair takes over. An expense allowance is offered. Readings will occur on Friday February 28 and Saturday March 1, from 6 to 10 pm. The public is invited to participate and is kindly asked to register in advance at jt@halle-fuer-kunst.at and arrange a timeslot. Further information can be found here.

Artists

Participating artists

Solo exhibitions, Presentations & Readings (selection): Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2022), Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2021), Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (2020), Museum MACAN, Jakarta (2018), 57th Venice Biennale, Venice (1957), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2012), Jardin des Plantes, Paris (2012), David Zwirner, New York (2012, 2009, 2001, 1999), Dallas Museum of Art (2008), Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2006), Städtische Galerie im Lehnbachhaus, Munich (2000), MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (1996), Kölnischer Kunstverein (1995), Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1993), The Renaissance Society, Chicago (1989), Portikus, Frankfurt am Main (1989), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1977).

Group exhibitions (selection): Musée d’art Moderne de Paris, Paris (2024), Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden (2023), Kunsthall Charlottenburg, Copenhagen (2023), Pallazzo Grassi — Punta della Dogana, Venice (2023), MUMOK, Vienna (2022), Hamburger Kunsthalle (2022), Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2022), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima (2019), Kunstmuseum Basel (2019), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2017−2020), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2017−2020), Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2016), Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo (2016), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2015), Schaulager, Basel (2015), ZKM|Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2006), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2006), 4th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea (2002), Documenta 7 & 11, Kassel (1982 / 2002), 11th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney (1998).