On Kawara: Rules of Freedom, Freedom of Rules

Curated by Hou Hanru and Ying Kwok with Jill Angel Chun.

Every postcard sent, every date painted, every journey mapped: On Kawara transformed these seemingly banal daily acts into a conceptually profound artistic language that speaks across time. His systematic documentation of existence, begun long before our era of digital sharing, used the communication technologies of his time—postcards, telegrams, calendars, and CDs—to mark his presence and connect with others in ways that remain startlingly relevant today. 

On Kawara: Rules of Freedom, Freedom of Rules presents the pioneering conceptual artist’s most iconic series, spanning five decades of work and marking the first major retrospective in the world conceived after his passing in 2014. Through distinct, fastidious approaches epitomised by his renowned Date Paintings, these works fundamentally reshape our understanding of time and existence. 

At the heart of Kawara’s practice lies a constant negotiation between self-imposed creative rules and lived experience. What this reveals is the inevitable tension which exists between freedom and rules as the very resource of energy needed to live in the world. His work transforms the acts of documenting everyday events into deep, yet free, meditations on time, presence, and existence, transcending cultural and geographical boundaries to offer universal reflections on the human condition. 

Part of Tai Kwun’s landmark summer exhibition series spotlighting visionary artists who have profoundly influenced contemporary art and life, this exhibition features all On Kawara’s celebrated series: Today, I Read, I Am Still Alive, I Got Up, I Met, I Went, and One Million Years with live performances. Today series records each day through a painted date, anchoring his presence in time and space with minimalist precision and subtle local context. Corresponding with Today series, I Read comprises 3,272 pages of dated newspaper clippings, revealing the artist’s engagement with world events alongside his painting practice. In I Am Still Alive, he sent telegrams stating his continued existence, transforming brief messages into poignant affirmations of presence across distance. The I Got Up series chronicles his daily awakenings via stamped postcards, mapping the rhythms of ordinary life and global movement. I Met documents every person he encountered each day, creating a diary of social interaction and invisible connections. I Went traces his footsteps by charting his routes on city maps, visualising the physical paths of his existence. In One Million Years, he expands the scale dramatically, presenting a vast timeline in the enormity of human history and potential past and future, and is shown as a live installation where performers and volunteers recite the typed years aloud, transforming his radical exploration of time into a collective, continuously reinterpreted experience that invites visitors to become active participants in his conceptual universe.  

The exhibition, with an episodic section representing the artist’s 1978 visit to Hong Kong, during his 46th birthday as an anchor point, examines Kawara as both global citizen and artist-philosopher, exploring how his engaging work bridges the everyday and the metaphysical, simplicity and complexity, the present and the eternal. His visibly minimal yet meaning-rich practice captures a paradox familiar in today’s globalised world: finding stability within perpetual movement.  

Over the course of the exhibition, Tai Kwun Contemporary will host a variety of public programmes and educational events exploring the exhibition's themes. These include Tai Kwun Conversations moderated by Ying Kwok in dialogue with co-curator Hou Hanru, artists Au Hoi Lam and Yang Zhenzhong; Teacher's Morning and Teacher's Workshop sessions, and Family Day at Tai Kwun Contemporary, which explore the artist's use of materials and narrative. Guided Tour: Who's Next? will provide docent-led tours delving into the artist's creative process, techniques, and inspirations. The Hi! & Seek Corner, an open space on the 2nd floor, will be open as usual for visitor dialogue, exploration, and interactive experiences related to the exhibition. 

On Kawara: Rules of Freedom, Freedom of Rules 
Curated by Hou Hanru and Ying Kwok with Jill Angel Chun / May 23 to August 17, 2025 / Tuesday–Sunday: 11am–7pm / Closed on Mondays, except public holidays—in which case closed the day after.