Author Description

Joseph Kosuth's writings, like his installations, assert that art begins where mere physicality ends. The articles, statements, and interviews collected here, produced over a period of twenty-four years, range over philosophy of language, anthropology, Marxism, and linguistics to discover the common principles that inform representation while negotiating the endlessly complex debates about art of the last two decades. Rooted in Freud, Wittgenstein, and French theory, Kosuth's work investigates the linguistic nature of art propositions and the role of social, institutional, psychological, and ethnological context. As a whole, his writings present a new definition of an expanded role and responsibility for the artist. Joseph Kosuth first received widespread notice at the Museum of Modern Art's "Information" exhibition and the Kunsthalle Bern's "When Attitudes Become Form" in the late 1960s. Today he is considered a founder of what has become known as conceptual art. His work appears in the permanent collections of many major museums. Gabriele Guercio is a doctoral candidate in art history at Yale University.