With Synecdoche, New York just released in the UK, which centres on theatre director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), building an increasingly complex living replica of New York over twenty years, it seemed an appropriate time to visit a selection of real artists who have dedicated their lives to a single project. People like Charles Avery, who has imagined a whole island of people and species that he is gradually creating (above)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who like wrapping really large things in fabric – like The Reichstag, a forest and a number of islands; and John Cage, who has written a musical piece being played in a German church which will last 639 years.