biography
Joseph Kosuth, born 1945 in Toledo, Ohio, is an American conceptual artist. After studying at the Toledo Museum School of Arts, the Cleveland Art Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York, Kosuth quickly became on of the founders and representatives of Conceptual Art in which he is engaged „with an investigation of the nature of art“ and with the problems of sensory perception – reality, identity and the definition of the object. In his work Kosuth has dealt systematically with the role of language in art. He does so by employing appropriation strategies, texts, photography, installations and the use of public media and transfers art into a questioning process.
His works have been shown at various institutions including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Salomon R. Guggenheim (New York), The Whitney (New York), The Centre Pompidou (Paris), The Tate Gallery and The Reina Sophia (Madrid).
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
Joseph Kosuth (A Grammatical Remark) #11, Chelsea College of Arts, London
2018
Still Waters Run Deep, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiun
2017
A Symposium on Marcel Duchamp, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Words Are Deeds, Phillips, London
2015
Made At Conception, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
2014
Existence and the World – Das Dasein und die Welt, Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Thurgau
2013
Joseph Kosuth. Eine verstummte Bibliothek, Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Thurgau
2011
Texts For Nothing (Waiting For-) Samuel Beckett, in Play, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
2007
Joseph Kosuth, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
2006
Nichts, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
(No Title), Castello Di Rivoli, Turin
2004
Re-Defining the Context Of Art: 1968-2004/The Second Investigation/Public Media, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
Guests and Foreigners, Rules and Meanings, Hellenic American Union, Athens
2003
(No Title), Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Ittingen
2002
Joseph Kosuth – Windows Project, Adriano Olivetti Foundation, Rome
2001
(No Title), Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
2000
Joseph Kosuth, Kunsthalle, Basel
Place of Writing. Five Works by Joseph Kosuth. From One and Three Chairs to Ex Libris, Musée Champollion, Figeac
Artist, Curator, Collector: James McNeill Whistler, Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner – Three Locations in the Creative Progress, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Guests and Foreigners: The Years of Isolation (Including a Survey of Works 1965-1999), Modern Art Museum, Tokushima
1999
Gäste und Fremde: Goethes Italienische Reise. Eine Installation, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
Condizioni d’Assenza (Il nome e chi lo porta), Villa Medici, Rome
Guests and Foreigners: The Years of Isolation. Includig a Survery of Works 1965-1999), Museum of Art, Chiba City
Eine verstummte Bibliothek, Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Ittingen
1998
Die Anfänge der Konzeptkunst: Frühe Arbeiten von Joseph Kosuth. Aus der Sammlung Bruno Bischofberger, Glarus Kunsthaus, Glarus
Ein Plan für: Eine verstummte Bibliothek, Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Ittingen
Ulysses. 18 Scenes, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
1997
Re-Defining the Context of Art: 1968-1997. The Second Investigation and Public Media, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston
(No Title), Kunsthaus, Bregenz
Guests and Foreigners. Rules and Meanings. A New Installation with a Survery: 1965-1997, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Joseph Kosuth. Read and Seen: Selected Works from 1965, 1967, 1969, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1993
XLV Esposizione Internazionale D’Arte – Hungarian Pavilion, Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1974
Joseph Kosuth: Investigations sur l’art et problématique 1965-1973, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris
1973
Joseph Kosuth: Investigationen über Kunst & Problemkreise seit 1965, Kunstraum, Tübingen
Joseph Kosuth: Investigationen über Kunst & Problemkreise seit 1965, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
Joseph Kosuth: Investigationen über Kunst & Problemkreise seit 1965, Kunstmuseum, Luzern
1972
Joseph Kosuth: Recent Work – The Ninth Investigation, Proposition 1, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Joseph Kosuth: Early Work – Proto-Investigations = Fifteen Works 1965-1967, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1971
Joseph Kosuth: The Eighth Investigation, Proposition 3, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Joseph Kosuth, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
Joseph Kosuth: El Arte Come Idea Come Idea, Centro de Arte y Communicacion, Buenos Aires
1970
Joseph Kosuth: The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Investigations (Art as Idea as Idea 1968), Kunstbiblioteket, Lyngby
(No Title), Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea 1966-1970), Christ College, Oxford
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea 1966-1970), College of Art, Coventry
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea 1966-1970), Kunsthalle, Bern
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea 1966-1970), Instituto Torcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea 1966-1970), Pinacotheca, Australia
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea 1966-1970), St. Martin’s School of Art, London
1969
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea), Art Museum, Pasadena
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Joseph Kosuth: 15 Locations 1969/70 (Art as Idea as Idea), Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1967
Joseph Kosuth, Museum Of Normal Art, New York