Joseph Kosuth

One and Three Chairs, 1965, chair and mounted photographs, collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York (Larry Aldrich Fund), courtesy of the artist and Sean Kelly Gallery, New York

on the art market
conceptual art

photos and interview by ALEXIS DAHAN

 

ALEXIS DAHAN — In 1965 you were in your 20s, making work that is now widely recognized as the beginning of Conceptual art. Today, the term is everywhere, and the practice seems to be generalized. What was your motivation from the start?
JOSEPH KOSUTH — My initial work, among other things, was a critique of the institutionalized status of art as only painting and sculpture. I think it had its effect on the practice of art, opening it up to questioning and then accepting such questioning as an important part of the art-making process. To a degree it means that Conceptual art…