This month LVH Art interviewed Joseph Kosuth, one of the pioneers of Conceptual art and installation art. He has initiated language-based works and appropriation strategies since the 1960s. His work has consistently explored the production and role of language and meaning within art. Born in 1945 in Toledo, Ohio, Joseph Kosuth studied at the Toledo Museum School of Design, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the American Center in Paris. In 1965, he moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts and later joined its faculty. Kosuth abandoned painting in favour of conceptual art, first shown in 1967 at the Museum of Normal Art. His first solo exhibition was at the iconic Leo Castelli Gallery in 1969. He also became the American editor of Art and Language that same year, and in the early 1970s, he studied philosophy at The New School for Social Research. His exploration of language's relationship to art has spanned over fifty years and has been featured in exhibitions worldwide, including Documenta and the Venice Biennale.
One of his most famous pieces, "One and Three Chairs" (1965), presents a chair, a photograph of the chair, and a dictionary definition of the word "chair," prompting viewers to consider how meaning is constructed. Kosuth didn’t build the chair, take the photograph, or write the definition; he simply selected and arranged them. In doing so, he presents us with numerous questions: Is this art? Which representation of the chair is the most "accurate"? These are the very questions Kosuth wanted us to ponder when he stated, “art is making meaning.” By combining these three different representations, he creates a space for exploring new meanings.
In celebration of his 80th birthday, both Sprüth Magers Gallery, Sean Kelly Gallery and Lia Rumma are hosting solo exhibitions of Joseph Kosuth. He currently has a solo show at Sprüth Magers Gallery in London, titled The Question, running until March 15, 2025. Sean Kelly Gallery in New York will open a solo exhibition of his work, titled Future Memory, on March 7, which will run until April 18, 2025. Then Lia Rumma will also be hosting an exhibition of Joseph's work, which opens on April 10 and runs through May 2025. One of the newest works that will be featured at Sean Kelly Gallery is The Question (G.S.) (2025), where Kosuth further delves into his philosophical exploration of time. The piece presents a question by Gertrude Stein, a key early collector of avant-garde art in Paris and a prominent supporter of Cubism. The question is positioned on a clock, whose hands move mechanically, indifferent to the human lives and narratives that unfold beyond their grasp.
LVH Art spoke with Kosuth about his early departure from painting as an art student, his prevalent use of neon in his work, and more..
Moving away from painting
LVH Art: You began your studies in drawing and painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1963 and then continued at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where you studied painting until 1967. During this time, you were already beginning to question the effectiveness of traditional imagery and painting in conveying meaning. Could you explain why you believe painting isn’t effective enough in conveying meaning?
Joseph Kosuth: Because all the prior meaning of the tradition of painting itself speaks far louder than anything you are saying as an individual artist, masking your expression as an individual.
‘Viewer-Reader’
LVH Art: You consistently refer to the audience of your work as ‘viewer-readers.’ Could you explain the reasoning behind this?
Joseph Kosuth: Because it is more accurate than just saying ‘viewer’. The audience of my work doesn’t simply look, they must also read, with most works. Work, which is based solely on forms and colors, tends to require less use of the brain; work with text is richer in relation to the realm of meaning and requires more cerebral activity
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One and Eight - A Description, 1965
LVH Art: In your 1965 series One and Eight – A Description, what inspired the concept behind it, and how did Wittgenstein’s philosophical ideas, particularly his theories on tautologies, influence your work during this time?
Joseph Kosuth: This was what led me to use neon originally: I needed a form of presentation, or a material, which was comprised of many qualities that I could unpack, one which wouldn’t be seen as ‘artistic’. I liked that neon also had a history of signage, giving it an association with popular culture. With all the qualities which neon had, it made it possible to separate them out for use in that work.
Blurring of Truth in the Digital Age
LVH Art: Much of your art explores how language shapes our understanding of reality. In today’s era, where misinformation is widespread and deepfakes complicate our ability to discern what is real, how do you believe art should function, and do think it should confront or question these blurred lines between fact and fiction?
Joseph Kosuth: This certainly could be, and no doubt is, someone’s artistic project, but it isn’t mine. It has a relationship with questions concerning the production of meaning, unquestionably, but positioned in a way to take the conversation in a different direction than what I’m interested in.
Neither Appearance nor Illusion, 2009 at the Louvre, Paris
LVH Art: You’ve often emphasized the significance of context in your work, particularly how the physical space—both institutional and site-specific—shapes the meaning of your pieces. As you’ve said, ‘Architecture is the most psychological of the arts. It defines the approach to work and frames your response to the kinds of meanings you find in it.’ I’d like to focus on two site specific works: Neither Appearance nor Illusion at the Louvre, when it was first installed along a 12th century sandstone passage (now moved to a new location). This installation was placed in almost ‘hidden’, transitional space. How did the context of this space influence your approach to the work?
Joseph Kosuth: It’s important to understand why I chose that space for my work. This was a result of how the Louvre itself is organized. I needed my work to reference itself to the totality of the museum. However, the Louvre, given its mission to show the world’s culture, by necessity must be organized into departments, and most likely chaos would result without them. So, it was difficult for me to do a work which could reference the whole museum; the façade was not available, for example. It was only by using a hall that served the whole museum, as I did, could I be able to reference the museum as a whole entity.
The Role of Art
LVH Art: You’ve mentioned arguing with Hans Haacke about the idea that art is simply a vehicle for delivering a political message. You said, ‘As soon as you give the idea that art is just a truck that delivers the message, then you end up with something parallel to Disney.’ Could you elaborate on why you view this as problematic, and how you see the role of art beyond just conveying a political point?
Joseph Kosuth: Because the model of art you are otherwise left with is a very conservative one, one that implies that art is only at the level of populist illustration, for example, and is limited to serving as a means of communication and one which communicates to the widest audience. This ends art’s specialist mission of experimentation and its study. Art could no longer maintain a self-knowledge, putting it on an equal level with science and other similar disciplines. In my practice I’ve argued – through my work and theoretical writing – that art can be seen as a kind of concrete philosophy, one which avoids the traps of academic philosophical assertions that basically finished off philosophy in the universities in the 20th century. Our last philosophers –Nietzsche or Wittgenstein – saw their activity as basically dead.
