I Got Up At

A series of plain postcards stamped with the exact time the Japanese conceptual artist woke each morning, sent to friends and acquaintances as a quiet yet relentless record of daily existence. The stark, typewritten text against the modest card stock strips autobiography down to its barest fact, transforming an unremarkable routine into a meditation on time, consciousness, and the act of being alive. Part of Kawara's broader investigation into date and duration, the work accumulates meaning through repetition, each card a small proof that the artist had, once again, persisted into another day.