Nato a Toledo, Ohio nel 1945, Joseph Kosuth ha studiato presso il Cleveland Art Institute e alla School of Visual Arts di New York. Ha frequentato i corsi di filosofia e antropologia della New School for Social Research. Pioniere dell'arte concettuale negli anni '60, Kosuth è stato l'iniziatore di un metodo operativo basato sul linguaggio e sulle strategie di appropriazione. Il suo lavoro ha esplorato la produzione e il ruolo del significato nell'ambito dell'arte visiva. Nel 1991 la M.I.T. Press ha pubblicato una raccolta dei suoi scritti, Art After Philosophy And After. Negli anni recenti Kosuth ha creato installazioni sia in spazi espositivi interni che esterni. Tra questi: il Brooklyn Museum, la Neue Galerie di Kassel nella Documenta del 1992, l'Hirshhorn Museum, il Padiglione Ungherese alla Biennale di Venezia e la Biblioteca Bodleiana dell'Università di Oxford. Le opere all'aperto gli sono state commissionate a Francoforte, Figeac, Stoccarda, Lione e Tokyo. Attualmente vive e lavora tra i due studi di Gand in Belgio e di New York.

Mostre personali selezionate

Selected solo exhibitions

1968 Gallery 669, Los Angeles, 'Nothing'.

1969 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, Ca., Joseph Kosuth: '15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as dea).'Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, '15 Locations 1969/70' (Art as Idea as Idea).

1973 Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland, Joseph Kosuth: 'Art Investigations and Problematics' 1965-1973 and tour.

1974 Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France, Joseph Kosuth: Investigations sur l'art et problématique 1965-1973.

1975 Leo Castelli, New York, Joseph Kosuth: 'The Tenth Investigation 1974 Proposition 4.'

1976 Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, Joseph Kosuth: Beitrage zur Konzeptuellen Kunst 1965-1976.

1978 Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Holland, Joseph Kosuth: 'Tekst/Kontekst.'

1981 Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany, Joseph Kosuth: 'Bedeutung von Bedeutung/ The Making of Meaning'.

1983 Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris, France, Joseph Kosuth: 'Cathexis and Hypercathexis'.

1985 Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland, Joseph Kosuth: Oeuvres récentes 1981-1985

Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart, Germany, Joseph Kosuth: 'Zero & Not.'

1986 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, Joseph Kosuth: 'Zero & Not.'

1987 Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York, 'Modus Operandi'.

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, Joseph Kosuth: New Works.

Galeria Comicos, Lisbon, Portugal, Joseph Kosuth: Six Recent Works.

1988 Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy, 'Modus Operandi: Cancellato'.

Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Joseph Kosuth: 'Modus Operandi.'

1989 Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium, 'Exchange of Meaning': Translation in the Work of Joseph Kosuth.

Knoll Galeria, Budapest, Hungary.

Galleria Giorgio Persano, Milan, Italy.

Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium. (With Eran Scharf and Marcel Duchamp)

1990 Galeria Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid, Spain, Joseph Kosuth: 'Tabula Rasa'.

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, Joseph Kosuth: 'An Exhibition On, About, or Using Ludwig Wittgenstein.'

1991 Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna, Austria.

Rubin Spangle, New York, Joseph Kosuth: Three Installations: 1970, 1979, and 1988.

Galeria Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 'Un Aleph, Ex Libris (para J.L.B.)'.

Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples, Italy, 'An Exhibition On, About, or Using Wittgenstein and Nietzsche'.

1992 Belvedere, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 'Podobenstvì (Ex Libris, Kafka) Parable (Ex Libris, Kafka)'.

Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany, 'Kein Ding, Kein Ich, Keine Form, Kein Grundsatz (Sind Sicher)'.

Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., 'A Play: The Herald Tribune, Kafka and a Quote.'

1993 Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, Joseph Kosuth: ('Eine Grammatische Bemerkung').

Biennale Venice, Hungarian Pavillion, Venice, Italy. 'Zeno At The Edge Of The Known World'.

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, 'the Thing-in-itself is found in its Truth through the loss of its immediacy'.

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 'Double Reading, Allegory of Limits'.

1994 Centrum Sztuki Wspòtczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland, 'The Corridor of Two Banalities'. With Ilya Kabakov.

Kunstwerke Berlin, Berlin, 'Berliner Chronik'.

Hillside Gallery & Art Front Exhibition Space, Tokyo, Japan, 'Review of Works'.

1995 Fundaciò Pilar i Joan Mirò, Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 'L'art de les idees. Una visiò de trenta anys'.

Ratti Foundation, Como, Italy, 'Rules and Meanings'.

Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm, Sweden, Joseph Kosuth: 'The First Investigation' 1966-1968.

Leo Castelli Graphics, New York, Joseph Kosuth. Editions [Or, works and related articles, things, props, which are multiplied]: The Past Ten Years.

Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway, Joseph Kosuth and American Conceptualism.

1996 Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, Joseph Kosuth. Editions [Or, works and related articles, things, props, which are multiplied]: The Past Ten Years.

 

 

 

MOSTRE COLLETTIVE SELEZIONATE

Selected group exhibitions

1967 Lannis Gallery, New York, Non-Anthropomorphic Art by Four Young Artists.

1969 Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, When Attitudes Become Form.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Art by Telephone.

Seth Siegelaub, New York, January 5-31, 1969.

1970 Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Turin, Italy, Conceptual Art, Arte Povera, Land Art.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Information.

1971 Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim International Exhibition 1971.

1972 Documenta V, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.

1976 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Seventy-second American Exhibition.

Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.

1978 Documenta VI, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Words at Liberty, and A View of The Decade.

1979 Museum of Modern Art, New York, Printed Art: A View of Two Decades.

1980 Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, England, Artist and Camera, and tour.

1982 Documenta VII, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.

1983 The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo & Kyoto, Japan, Photography In Contemporary Art.

Ateneumin Taidemuseo, Helsinki, Finland, Ars 83.

1986 Palazzina Centrale Castel dell'Ovo, Naples, Italy, Rooted Rhetoric.

Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Gent, Belgium, Chambres d'Amis.

1987 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, The Whitney Biennial.

1988 Musée d'Art Contemporain, (CAPC) Bordeaux, France, Art Conceptuel I.

1989 Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France, L'Art Conceptuel, une perspective.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Image World: Art and Media Culture.

1990 Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, Contemporary Art In An Urban Context.

Wexner Center for Visual Arts, Columbus, Ohio, New Art for New Spaces: Into the Nineties.

1991 Dum Umeni Messa Brna, Brno, Czechoslovakia, Detente, and tour

Von der Heydt-Museum, Kunsthalle Bremen, Kunstraum Wuppertal, Germany, Buchstäblich, Bild und Wort in der Kunst Heute.

1992 American Academy, Rome, Italy, Joseph Kosuth and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Documenta IX, Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany.

Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, No Rocks Allowed.

1993 Leo Castelli at 578 Broadway, New York, Word Play.

Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, All Roads lead to Rome?

Carré d'Art-Musée d'Art Contemporain, Nîmes, France, L'Objet dans l'Art du xx-ème Siècle.

Offenes Kulturhaus, Linz, Austria, The Foreigner, The Guest.

1994 Camden Art Centre, London, England, Symptoms of Interference, Conditions of Possiblity, with Ad Reinhardt and Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Oxford University: Taylor Institution 'The (Ethical) Space of Cabinets 7 & 8'.

and The Bodleian Library 'Say: I do not know' (The Reading Room)

Guggenheim Museum, New York, The Tradition of the New: Postwar Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection.

CAPC, Bordeaux, France, Pour les chapelles de Vence.

1995 Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, Reinventing the Emblem: Contemporary Artists Recreate a Renaissance Idea.

Ex-Aurum, Pescara, Italy, Caravanseray of Contemporary Art.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1965-1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art.

Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan. Revolutionists of Contemporary Art - Art in the 1960's.

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, Untitled (Reading Room).

Museo Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, Intervenciones en el espacio.

1996 Athens School of Fine Arts 'the factory', Athens, Greece, Will travel to the Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Guggenheim Museum Soho, New York City. Everything That's Interesting Is New. The Dakis Joannou Collection.

SELEZIONE DI MOSTRE E INSTALLAZIONI CURATE

in quanto opere

Selected curated exhibitions, and curated installations as works

1968 Lannis Gallery (Museum Of Normal Art), New York, Fifteen People Present Their Favorite Book. (Robert Morris, Ad Reinhardt, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold, Dan Graham, Robert Smithson, Carl Andre, Robert Ryman, and others.)

1972 Visual Arts Gallery, New York, The Air-Conditioning Show. (Atkinson and Baldwin)

1985 Galerie Phillip Nelson (Octobre des Arts), Lyon, France, Transitional Objects. (Alan Belcher, Gregg Bordowitz, Clegg & Guttmann, Mark Dion, Andrea Fraser, Sylvia Kolbowski and Ken Lum).

1989 Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna, Austria, 'Zero & Not (Vienna).'

Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria & Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium, Das Spiel des Unsagbaren; Ludwig Wittgenstein und die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts/ Het Spel van het Naamloze; Ludwig Wittgenstein en de Kunst van de 20ste Eeuw.

1990 The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, The Brooklyn Museum Collection: 'The Play Of The Unmentionable.' (extended list)

 

 

SELEZIONE DI PROGETTI PUBBLICI E ARCHITETTONICI

Selected architectural and public projects

1989 Public site, Antwerp, Belgium, 'Ex Libris (Antwerp).'

Public site, Milano, Italy, 'Ex Libris (Milano).'

1990 The Wexner Center, Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio, 'Ex Libris, Columbus (for W.B.).'

Public site, Frankfurt, Germany, 'Ex Libris, Frankfurt (for W.B.)'.

1991 Place des Ecritures, Figeac, France, 'Ex Libris, J.-F. Champollion (Figeac)'.

Railway Station, Ommen, The Netherlands, 'Taxonomy Applied #2'.

1992 Hammerkanal-Tunnel, Esslingen, Germany, 'Ex Libris, Esslingen (For R.M.)'.

1993 Universität Hohenheim, Hohenheim, Germany, 'Ein Schiller Labyrinth'.

1994 Theater Hof, Hof, Germany.

Railway Station, Stuttgart, Germany, 'Beschriebene Maßnahme (eine Widmung)'.

Tachikawa Site, Tokyo, Japan, 'Words of a Spell, for Noëma'.

1995 Lyon Auto Parc, Lyon, France, 'Les Aventures d'Ulysse sous Terre'.

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota City, Japan, 'Taxonomy (Applied) #3'.

1996 Universität Ulm, Strahlentherapie, Ulm, Germany, Farbe Angewandt (Goethe, Ulm).

 

COLLEZIONI PUBBLICHE

Public collections

 

The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

The Tate Gallery, London, England.

The Ludwig Collection

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

The Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Collection Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, Italy.

Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany.

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.

Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany.

Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia.

Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium.

Fer Collection, Ulm, Germany.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAFIA SELEZIONATA IN LINGUA INGLESE

Selected bibliography in English

Acker, Kathy. "Joseph Kosuth: a conversation with Hart Crane." Artforum 20 (May 1982): 68.

Baker, Elizabeth C. "Joseph Kosuth: Information, Please." Art News 72 (February 1973): 30-131.

Benjamin, Andrew. "Installation Art: Joseph Kosuth." Art & Design 30 (June 1993): 95-98. Interview.

Blom, Ina. "Only in the Brain?" Aftenposten Morgenutg. (Oslo), December 4, 1995.

Bonami, Francesco. "Joseph Kosuth." Flash Art 24 (Summer 1991): 155-56. Interview.

Ermen, Reinhard. "Joseph Kosuth: Eine Grammatische Bemerkung." KunstForum International Bd. 123 (1993): 360-361.

Evans, Steven. "Joseph Kosuth." Artscribe International 75 (May 1989): 80-81.

Glueck, Grace. "At the Brooklyn Museum, an Artist Surveys the Objectionable." New York Times, December 17, 1990, sec. C11, p. 14.

Grogaard, Stian. "Hospitality bordering Irony." Morgenbladet (Oslo), November 3, 1995.

Grogaard, Stian and Morgenstern, George. "Intervju med Joseph Kosuth." Hyperfoto (Oslo), n. 4/95, 1/96, pp 59-65. Interview.

Grotvedt, Paul. "Conceptual Art - Art out of its Mind?" Aftenposten Morgenutg. (Oslo), November 24, 1995.

Indiana, Gary. "Cancelled Texts." Village Voice, June 10, 1986, p. 77.

Johnson, Ken. "Forbidden Sights." Art in America 79 (January 1991): 106-09.

Jones, Gareth. "Symtoms of Interference, Conditions of Possibility" Flash Art 125 (March/April 1994): 122

Kandel, Susan. "Finding a Space Between Mind and Matter" The Los Angeles Times, October 28, 1993.

Joseph Kosuth, and Siegelaub, Seth. "Joseph Kosuth and Seth Siegelaub reply to Benjamin Buchloch on Conceptual Art." October (New York), n. 57 (Summer 1991): 152-157.

. "Writing and The Play of Art." Kunst & Museum Journaal (Amsterdam), Vol. 3, n. 4 (1992): 30-35.

. "Artist pages: Joseph Kosuth." Art Journal, Volume 51, No. 1 (Spring 1992): 5-19.

. "Artist page: Words are Deeds." Esquire (New York), Volume 120, n. 4 (October 1994): 122.

Levine, Charles. "Kosuth's 'Zero & Not.'" Artefactum 1986.

Levin, Kim. "Grand Exhibitionism." Village Voice, November 6, 1990, p. 112.

Lewis, James. "Joseph Kosuth." Artforum 29 (December 1990): 134.

Lippert, Werner. "Der Blick hinten den Spiegel." Kunstforum International. Bd. 123, 1993, pp. 118-122.

MacAdam, Barbara A., "A Conceptualist's Self Conceptions." ARTnews, (December 1995), pp. 124-127.

Morgan, Robert C. "The Making of Wit: Joseph Kosuth and the Freudian Palimpsest." Arts Magazine 62 (January 1988): 48-51.

Morgan, Stuart. "Art As Idea As Idea." Frieze (London), Issue 16 (May 1994): 24-29. Interview.

Nilsson, John Peter. "A Lesson in the Art of Living." Aftonbladet (Stockholm), November 18, 1995

Pavel, Liska. "Art after Philosophy and After." Vytvarné Umení (Prague), n. 1(1992): 3-10.

Ponti, L. "Kosuth's 'Modus Operandi.'" Domus 665 (October 1985): 76-77.

Robbins, David. "Joseph Kosuth: Absolute Responsibility." Arts 61 (April 1987): 62-63.

(Joseph Kosuth as) Rose, Arthur R. "Four Interviews with Barry, Huebler, Kosuth, Weiner." Arts 43 (February 1969): 22-23.

Rypson, Piotr. "Joseph Kosuth." Obieg (Warsaw) n. 61-62 (May-June 1994): 3 -15.

Sandberg, Lotte. "A Table is a Table is a Table." Aftenposten Morgenutg. (Oslo), October 29, 1995.

Schmidt-Wulffen. "Spatial Discourse." Vytarné Umení (Prague), n. 4, 1994, pp. 6-21.

Serck, Peter. "Art as Idea World." Klassekampen (Oslo), November 24, 1995

Siegel, Jeanne. "Joseph Kosuth: 'Art as Idea as Idea.' Artwords: Discourse on the 60's and 70's", Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985, p. 220-231.

Smith, Roberta. "Kosuth Takes a Turn for the Psychological." New York Times, September 30, 1988, p. C30.

Smith, Roberta. "'Unmentionable' Art Through the Ages." New York Times, November 11, 1990, p. H39, 43.

Schwerfel, Heinz-Peter. "Kunst hat nichts mit Geschmack zu tun." Art Das Kunstmagazin. n. 3, March 1996, pp. 54-63.

Sompel, Ronald van de. "Anything goes; Joseph Kosuth en het spel van het naamloze." Metropolis M 2, 1990, pp.22-25

Taylor, Paul. "Joseph Kosuth." Flash Art 127 (April 1986): 37-39.

Thorkildsen, Asmund. "Contemporary Art As Conceptual Praxis." Aftenposten Morgenutg. (Oslo), December 8, 1995

Ueda, Takhiro. "Joseph Kosuth." Bijutsu Techo (Tokyo), Vol. 46, n. 698, 1994.

Vetland, Barbara. "Death of the Artwork" Numer 24 (Oslo), n. 2, 1995, pp. 30-31

Vogel, Sabine B. "Joseph Kosuth. A Grammatical Remark." ArtForum International xxxii, n.3, November (1993): 120

Volle, Wenche. "The Art Norway didn't want." Dagbladet (Oslo), October 31, 1995

 

Selezione di libri e cataloghi

Selected books and catalogues

Joseph Kosuth. 'The Play of the Unsayable'. Vienna/Brussel: Wiener Secession/Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, 1989.

. 'Exchange of Meaning,' Translation in the Work of Joseph Kosuth. [Essays by Martin Prinzhorn, John C. Welchman, Joseph Sumpf, et al.], Antwerp: Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, 1989. Catalogue.

Kosuth, Joseph. 'Reproduced Authentic'. Tokyo: Galerie Via Eight at Barney's New York, 1990.

Guercio, Gabriele, ed. (foreward by Jean-Francois Lyotard) Joseph Kosuth: 'Art after Philosophy and After,' Collected Writings, 1966-1990. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1991.

Kosuth, Joseph. 'Un Aleph, Ex Libris (para J.L.B.).' [Essay by Miguel Briante], Buenos Aires: Ruth Benzacar Ediciones, 1991.

. 'No Exit'. Stuttgart: Edition Cantz, 1991.

. 'Letters from Wittgenstein, Abridged in Ghent.' Ghent: Imschoot Uitgevers, 1992.

. 'Joseph Kosuth: Podobenství (Ex Libris, Kafka)'. [Essays by Charlotta Kotik and Miguel Briante], Prague: Belvedere, Prague Castle, 1992.

Kosuth, Joseph. 'The Play of The Unmentionable,' An Installation by Joseph Kosuth at the Brooklyn Museum. [Essay by David Freedberg], New York: New Press, 1992.

. A Room with 23 Qualities.[With students from the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Hamburg] Stuttgart: Edition Cantz, 1992.

Tazzi, Pier Luigi. 'Joseph Kosuth, Michelangelo Pistoletto'. Rome: American Academy, 1993.

Kosuth, Joseph. 'Kein Ding, Kein Ich, Kein Form, Kein Grundsatz (Sind Sicher)/No Thing, No Self, No Form, No Principle'. [Essays by Renate Damsch-Wiehager and Rudi Fuchs], Stuttgart: Edition Cantz, 1993.

. '(Eine Grammatische Bemerkung)/(A Grammatical Remark)'. [Essays by Eva Meyer and Stefan Schmidt-Wulffen], Stuttgart: Edition Cantz, 1993.

. 'Zeno At The Edge Of The Known World'. [Interviews by Mihály Szegedy-Maszák and Bartolomeo Mari; essay by Eva Korner], Budapest: Palace of Exhibitions, 1993.

'A. Reinhardt, J. Kosuth, F. Gonzalez-Torres: Symptoms of Interference, Conditions of Possiblity'. Ed. by Claire Farrow. London: Academy Group LTD, 1994.

Kosuth, Joseph. 'Review of Works'. Tokyo: Art Front Gallery, 1994.

. 'The (Ethical) Space of Cabinets 7&8' and 'Say: I do not know' ( an artist's book based on projects at Oxford University) London: Bookworks, 1994.