‘The Question’ consists of a selection of works pinpointing Kosuth’s investigations into the nature of art and the making of meaning throughout his practice over half a century.

At the core of his work lies the radical belief that the language of art is fundamentally philosophy made manifest, and his enduing interest has consistently privileged the questioning process as the primary starting and ending point for both art and its public. As a kind of philosophy by analogy, Kosuth reminds us of the artist’s duty to present new ideas – new ideas about what art is – which is not merely a reflection of the world but a dynamic, ongoing exploration of meaning itself.

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

 

Kosuth’s work engages deeply with the political and cultural upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, placing his art within the broader social and political context of the time. His work evolved into, and continues to be, a powerful tool for critiquing societal norms and exploring how art can engage with issues of power, culture, and identity. His practice marks a critical response to the aesthetic crises posed by postmodernism: as traditional aesthetic categories collapsed in the latter half of the twentieth century, his work has offered a way to navigate this upheaval. Kosuth’s interest in the philosophy of language stems from his conviction that today’s fragmented, unstable reality offers little certainty—calling instead for investigation into the most basic – yet most difficult to answer – questions.

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024
Clock and vinyl
Diameter: 190 cm | 74 7/8 inches
Depth: 25.2 cm | 10 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024
Clock and vinyl
Diameter: 190 cm | 74 7/8 inches
Depth: 25.2 cm | 10 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024
Clock and vinyl
Diameter: 190 cm | 74 7/8 inches
Depth: 25.2 cm | 10 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Question (J.M.)’, 2024

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‘The Question’ offers a rare opportunity to trace Kosuth’s artistic trajectory from its inception in the 1960s to his most recent works, including ‘The Question (J.M.)’ (2024). This work, consisting of a synthetic juxtaposition of a large clock and a quote from John McTaggart, “We come back, then, to the main question”, is on one hand an investigation into our conception of time as a directional movement measured cyclically, and on the other hand, a reflection on the very project Kosuth had set out in the 1960s, which was a programme of reformulating art as questioning the nature of art. The work, in this sense, is a bipartite division of the objective, as embodied in the mechanics of the clock, and the subjective, expressed in the reflection of the philosopher of time. This interplay thus becomes the artist’s own reflection on his objective history, and its subjective embodiment: as he has done throughout his career, Kosuth comes back, then, to the main question.

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965
Door, mounted photograph of a door and mounted photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘Door’
Dimensions variable
Overall: 242.8 x 298.5 cm | 95 5/8 x 117 1/2 inches
Photograph Definition: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches
Photograph Door: 232 x 95.8 cm | 91 3/8 x 37 3/4 inches

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The exhibition begins with a door. As we pass through it, we also consider its meaning as our point of entry. The door here has a double function–it provides physical access to the exhibition space and it also serves as the object investigated in the work ‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.] (1965) comprised of three component parts: the physical object, its deadpan photographic representation and the dictionary definition of “door.”  Using the door amplifies the artist’s intention that this work should encourage the visitor to think and to question representation along with him. The installation brings to mind Ludwig Wittgenstein’s contention that meaning is use.

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965
Door, mounted photograph of a door and mounted photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘Door’
Dimensions variable
Overall: 242.8 x 298.5 cm | 95 5/8 x 117 1/2 inches
Photograph Definition: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches
Photograph Door: 232 x 95.8 cm | 91 3/8 x 37 3/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965
Door, mounted photograph of a door and mounted photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘Door’
Dimensions variable
Overall: 242.8 x 298.5 cm | 95 5/8 x 117 1/2 inches
Photograph Definition: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches
Photograph Door: 232 x 95.8 cm | 91 3/8 x 37 3/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965 (detail)

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The exhibition begins with a door. As we pass through it, we also consider its meaning as our point of entry. The door here has a double function–it provides physical access to the exhibition space and it also serves as the object investigated in the work ‘One and Three Doors’ [Ety./Hist.] (1965) comprised of three component parts: the physical object, its deadpan photographic representation and the dictionary definition of “door.”  Using the door amplifies the artist’s intention that this work should encourage the visitor to think and to question representation along with him. The installation brings to mind Ludwig Wittgenstein’s contention that meaning is use.

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965
Shadow, mounted photograph of a shadow and mounted photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘Shadow’
Overall: 61 x 267 cm | 24 x 105 1/8 inches
Photograph Shadow: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches
Photograph Definition: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches

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Further complicating the ideas generated by this series is ‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.] (1965) which questions the notion of whether a shadow can even be considered an object, deepening the artist’s exploration of perception by using a shadow to question the distinction between reality and representation.

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965
Shadow, mounted photograph of a shadow and mounted photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘Shadow’
Overall: 61 x 267 cm | 24 x 105 1/8 inches
Photograph Shadow: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches
Photograph Definition: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965
Shadow, mounted photograph of a shadow and mounted photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘Shadow’
Overall: 61 x 267 cm | 24 x 105 1/8 inches
Photograph Shadow: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches
Photograph Definition: 61 x 76 cm | 24 x 30 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965

Joseph Kosuth
‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.], 1965

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Further complicating the ideas generated by this series is ‘One and Three Shadows’ [Ety./Hist.] (1965) which questions the notion of whether a shadow can even be considered an object, deepening the artist’s exploration of perception by using a shadow to question the distinction between reality and representation.

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Seeing Reading’ [Cool White] (Large Version), 1979
Cool white neon mounted directly on the wall
17 × 917 cm (14 cm capital height) | 6 3/4 × 361 inches (5 1/2 inches capital height)

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Seeing Reading’ [Cool White] (Large Version), 1979
Cool white neon mounted directly on the wall
17 × 917 cm (14 cm capital height) | 6 3/4 × 361 inches (5 1/2 inches capital height)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Seeing Reading’ [Cool White] (Large Version), 1979
Cool white neon mounted directly on the wall
17 × 917 cm (14 cm capital height) | 6 3/4 × 361 inches (5 1/2 inches capital height)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Seeing Reading’ [Cool White] (Large Version), 1979 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Seeing Reading’ [Cool White] (Large Version), 1979 (detail)

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In ‘Seeing Reading’ [Cool White] (Large Version) (1979) the neon text differentiates itself from Kosuth’s earlier work of the 1960s because it uses a text written by the artist as a direct address to the viewer suggestive of advertising rather than found objects and texts. Existing in an art context it requires the activity of both seeing and reading to unpack the question posed by the work, whether it is an object, a sentence or an artwork–while in effect being all three.

 

 
 
 
‘Text/Context’ (1978–79) was conceived to exist anonymously in the public realm of advertising billboards installed in the US and Europe while the same paper sheets used to produce the billboards were also exhibited in a gallery context. Prompting a consideration of the historical and social structures that shape art, the work examines how meaning is formed by both the words themselves and the context in which they appear revealing that language is never neutral but inherently shaped by its setting. As Kosuth has stated: “When looking at art, we are always outside looking in. With the billboards, and by using ‘common language’, albeit in a way which was neither narrative, nor instrumental, I attempted to reverse the process by putting us inside in order to see what was happening outside.”

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79
20 framed unique photographs
Overall: 207.8 x 323.5 cm | 81 7/8 x 127 3/8 inches
Each: 40 x 60 x 2 cm | 15 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 7/8 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79
20 framed unique photographs
Overall: 207.8 x 323.5 cm | 81 7/8 x 127 3/8 inches
Each: 40 x 60 x 2 cm | 15 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 7/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79
20 framed unique photographs
Overall: 207.8 x 323.5 cm | 81 7/8 x 127 3/8 inches
Each: 40 x 60 x 2 cm | 15 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 7/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79

Joseph Kosuth
‘Text/Context’, 1978–79

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‘Text/Context’ (1978–79) was conceived to exist anonymously in the public realm of advertising billboards installed in the US and Europe while the same paper sheets used to produce the billboards were also exhibited in a gallery context. Prompting a consideration of the historical and social structures that shape art, the work examines how meaning is formed by both the words themselves and the context in which they appear revealing that language is never neutral but inherently shaped by its setting. As Kosuth has stated: “When looking at art, we are always outside looking in. With the billboards, and by using ‘common language’, albeit in a way which was neither narrative, nor instrumental, I attempted to reverse the process by putting us inside in order to see what was happening outside.”

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988
Cobalt blue neon mounted directly on the wall, framed photograph on paper
274.7 × 181.2 cm | 108 1/8 × 71 3/8 inches

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During the 1980s, Kosuth was influenced and inspired by the discourse of psychoanalysis and in particular, Sigmund Freud, which culminated in a body of work described by the artist as “within the Freudian landscape.” ‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue] (1988) is but a different formulation of the same question, the “main question.” The Freudian object of fetish – a term of theoretical nature, and pertaining directly to the subject’s self-relationship through an object, which in turn becomes a fixation – is here applied to the Freudian thought itself. The reproduced page, along with Freud’s own handwriting in the margins, is fixed, reduplicating itself, simultaneously the object of fixation and the subjective self-relating that expresses itself through the object. The question, then is here reformulated through its object, an object of art.

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988
Cobalt blue neon mounted directly on the wall, framed photograph on paper
274.7 × 181.2 cm | 108 1/8 × 71 3/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988
Cobalt blue neon mounted directly on the wall, framed photograph on paper
274.7 × 181.2 cm | 108 1/8 × 71 3/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988

Joseph Kosuth
‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue], 1988

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During the 1980s, Kosuth was influenced and inspired by the discourse of psychoanalysis and in particular, Sigmund Freud, which culminated in a body of work described by the artist as “within the Freudian landscape.” ‘Fetishism Corrected #2’ [Blue] (1988) is but a different formulation of the same question, the “main question.” The Freudian object of fetish – a term of theoretical nature, and pertaining directly to the subject’s self-relationship through an object, which in turn becomes a fixation – is here applied to the Freudian thought itself. The reproduced page, along with Freud’s own handwriting in the margins, is fixed, reduplicating itself, simultaneously the object of fixation and the subjective self-relating that expresses itself through the object. The question, then is here reformulated through its object, an object of art.

The notion of sublime is traditionally defined as a feeling of overwhelm that results from the tension between objective grandeur and subjective intellectual distance. Viewing art as a human activity and positioned at the centre of culture, Kosuth reinterprets this notion within language as a statement on the nature of art. The redoubled panels of ‘The Sublime’ (2006) offer us an opportunity to see and read the same text, first objectively, as a text that is turned into an object. Subsequently, we are invited to read the same text, now, with an intellectual distance, reflecting on the text as subject. The tension inherent in the notion of sublime is here, expressed and reconciled in an identity. What Kosuth therefore offers is neither the collapsing of the gap, nor its resolution, but simply the reformulation of the question.

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006
Silkscreen on glass, aluminium shelves
Each: 110 x 110 x 7 cm | 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006
Silkscreen on glass, aluminium shelves
Each: 110 x 110 x 7 cm | 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006
Silkscreen on glass, aluminium shelves
Each: 110 x 110 x 7 cm | 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Sublime’, 2006

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The notion of sublime is traditionally defined as a feeling of overwhelm that results from the tension between objective grandeur and subjective intellectual distance. Viewing art as a human activity and positioned at the centre of culture, Kosuth reinterprets this notion within language as a statement on the nature of art. The redoubled panels of ‘The Sublime’ (2006) offer us an opportunity to see and read the same text, first objectively, as a text that is turned into an object. Subsequently, we are invited to read the same text, now, with an intellectual distance, reflecting on the text as subject. The tension inherent in the notion of sublime is here, expressed and reconciled in an identity. What Kosuth therefore offers is neither the collapsing of the gap, nor its resolution, but simply the reformulation of the question.

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991
Warm white, cobalt blue, ruby red, yellow, orange, violet and green neon mounted directly on the wall
21 × 394 cm | 8 1/4 × 155 1/8 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991
Warm white, cobalt blue, ruby red, yellow, orange, violet and green neon mounted directly on the wall
21 × 394 cm | 8 1/4 × 155 1/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991
Warm white, cobalt blue, ruby red, yellow, orange, violet and green neon mounted directly on the wall
21 × 394 cm | 8 1/4 × 155 1/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991

Joseph Kosuth
‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’, 1991

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Kosuth’s ‘#II49. (On Color/Multi #2)’ (1991) is a luminous exploration of colour and form, realised through multi-coloured neon tubes stretching across the wall. In the artist’s own words: “One aspect of my original reason to use neon in 1965 was that it was already part of popular culture as signage, and didn't have ‘high art’ associations. It also was clearly a temporary form of public writing, since neon only functions for a certain time and is then re-pumped or re-made. I was taking a popular form of communication but instead of announcing a product I was using that ‘voice’ to say something else.” In this same way, Kosuth transforms colour into another voice to say something else: categories of the everyday are elevated into the conceptual, prompting reflections on how colour functions both as sensation and as a bearer of meaning that marks an investigation into form through the use of these very forms.

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Mondrian’s Work XV’, 2015
Silkscreen on glass, white neon mounted directly on the wall
200 x 200 cm | 78 3/4 x 78 3/4 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Mondrian’s Work XV’, 2015
Silkscreen on glass, white neon mounted directly on the wall
200 x 200 cm | 78 3/4 x 78 3/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘Mondrian’s Work XV’, 2015
Silkscreen on glass, white neon mounted directly on the wall
200 x 200 cm | 78 3/4 x 78 3/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Mondrian’s Work XV’, 2015

Joseph Kosuth
‘Mondrian’s Work XV’, 2015

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009
Yellow neon mounted directly on the wall
183.5 x 183.3 cm | 72 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009
Yellow neon mounted directly on the wall
183.5 x 183.3 cm | 72 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009
Yellow neon mounted directly on the wall
183.5 x 183.3 cm | 72 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009

Joseph Kosuth
‘The Paradox of Content #3’ [Yellow], 2009

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966
Pink neon mounted directly on the wall
28.2 x 237.5 cm | 11 x 93 1/2 inches

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‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink] (1966) positions the sentence as subject. The humour as well as the work’s conceptual depth is embedded in the idea of a sentence having agency – language as both subject and object. In this way, the viewer is again positioned within a repetitive formation that changes the meaning of what is repeated, only by showing that it is. This early work foreshadows and intellectually grounds other works to come. The interplay of subjective and objective ways of seeing and reading art, as well as the gaps presented in what appears. The contextuality of art, here, becomes a medium of reflection, created by the viewer, recognised as a question concerning the nature of art. Hence, between the two lines, there is a question, which belongs to the viewer/reader.

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966
Pink neon mounted directly on the wall
28.2 x 237.5 cm | 11 x 93 1/2 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966
Pink neon mounted directly on the wall
28.2 x 237.5 cm | 11 x 93 1/2 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966

Joseph Kosuth
‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink], 1966

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‘Self-Described Twice’ [Pink] (1966) positions the sentence as subject. The humour as well as the work’s conceptual depth is embedded in the idea of a sentence having agency – language as both subject and object. In this way, the viewer is again positioned within a repetitive formation that changes the meaning of what is repeated, only by showing that it is. This early work foreshadows and intellectually grounds other works to come. The interplay of subjective and objective ways of seeing and reading art, as well as the gaps presented in what appears. The contextuality of art, here, becomes a medium of reflection, created by the viewer, recognised as a question concerning the nature of art. Hence, between the two lines, there is a question, which belongs to the viewer/reader.

 
 
‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’ (2011) is part of a series based on the writings of Samuel Beckett. In the artist’s own words: “Abandoned for years by the major critics of Beckett’s work and rarely included in anthologies of his work, ‘Texts for Nothing’ was seen as outside of the mainstream of Beckett’s writing. Previously viewed as somewhat of a pause in the oeuvre of Beckett, for me as an artist approaching his work, this writing, for my purposes, is quintessential Beckett, the perfect example of his particular artistic integrity. Beckett’s project as an artist has been instructive to me and touches on questions which occupy my own work, that is, a concern with meaning. One of many differences, of course, is that Beckett approaches the question of meaning from its absence, and in my work, I have been concerned with how meaning is made. But, that said, the approach can neither be obvious nor singular.” 
 
The juxtaposition of a painting by Caspar David Friedrich, in addition to being an inspiration to Beckett’s masterpiece Waiting for Godot, presents, consequently, another layer to this discourse of presence and absence. Friedrich’s work, commonly consisting of a landscape with a minimal, yet distinct, human presence is the visual presentation of the human presence in nature. In this way, echoing the discourse of the sublime, Kosuth’s installation allows us to respond to the quotation with a question: then, who said that? 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’, 2011
Warm white neon, dipped in matte black, mounted directly on the wall, framed and illuminated glass reproduction of Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Two Men Contemplating the Moon’
Overall: 116.4 × 118 cm | 45 7/8 × 46 1/2 inches
Neon: 23.3 × 118 cm | 9 1/8 × 46 1/2 inches
Picture: 47.6 × 57.5 cm | 18 3/4 × 22 5/8 inches

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’, 2011
Warm white neon, dipped in matte black, mounted directly on the wall, framed and illuminated glass reproduction of Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Two Men Contemplating the Moon’
Overall: 116.4 × 118 cm | 45 7/8 × 46 1/2 inches
Neon: 23.3 × 118 cm | 9 1/8 × 46 1/2 inches
Picture: 47.6 × 57.5 cm | 18 3/4 × 22 5/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’, 2011
Warm white neon, dipped in matte black, mounted directly on the wall, framed and illuminated glass reproduction of Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Two Men Contemplating the Moon’
Overall: 116.4 × 118 cm | 45 7/8 × 46 1/2 inches
Neon: 23.3 × 118 cm | 9 1/8 × 46 1/2 inches
Picture: 47.6 × 57.5 cm | 18 3/4 × 22 5/8 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’, 2011 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’, 2011 (detail)

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‘Texts for Nothing (Waiting for-) #15’ (2011) is part of a series based on the writings of Samuel Beckett. In the artist’s own words: “Abandoned for years by the major critics of Beckett’s work and rarely included in anthologies of his work, ‘Texts for Nothing’ was seen as outside of the mainstream of Beckett’s writing. Previously viewed as somewhat of a pause in the oeuvre of Beckett, for me as an artist approaching his work, this writing, for my purposes, is quintessential Beckett, the perfect example of his particular artistic integrity. Beckett’s project as an artist has been instructive to me and touches on questions which occupy my own work, that is, a concern with meaning. One of many differences, of course, is that Beckett approaches the question of meaning from its absence, and in my work, I have been concerned with how meaning is made. But, that said, the approach can neither be obvious nor singular.” 
 
The juxtaposition of a painting by Caspar David Friedrich, in addition to being an inspiration to Beckett’s masterpiece Waiting for Godot, presents, consequently, another layer to this discourse of presence and absence. Friedrich’s work, commonly consisting of a landscape with a minimal, yet distinct, human presence is the visual presentation of the human presence in nature. In this way, echoing the discourse of the sublime, Kosuth’s installation allows us to respond to the quotation with a question: then, who said that? 

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘C.S. II # 11’, 1988
Warm white neon mounted directly on the wall
16.5 × 171 cm | 6 1/2 × 67 1/4 inches

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In tandem to Beckett’s formulation of this nothingness, Kosuth positions another kind of nothing in ‘C.S. II # 11’ (1988), another work from his Freud series. In this case, the explicit nothingness is immediately turned upside down insofar as it is crossed out. “Nothing” negated is not a reaffirmation of it, but instead the expression of a “something” that was nascent in it. This is the notion of Freudian unconscious, that consists of an implicit question, and various ways in which this question is repressed, foreclosed, projected or otherwise manipulated. Kosuth reframes this implicit question and expresses it as a negation of a negation: what remains of nothing when nothing happens to it.

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Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘C.S. II # 11’, 1988
Warm white neon mounted directly on the wall
16.5 × 171 cm | 6 1/2 × 67 1/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth
‘C.S. II # 11’, 1988
Warm white neon mounted directly on the wall
16.5 × 171 cm | 6 1/2 × 67 1/4 inches

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London
Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

Joseph Kosuth
‘C.S. II # 11’, 1988 (detail)

Joseph Kosuth
‘C.S. II # 11’, 1988 (detail)

Details
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In tandem to Beckett’s formulation of this nothingness, Kosuth positions another kind of nothing in ‘C.S. II # 11’ (1988), another work from his Freud series. In this case, the explicit nothingness is immediately turned upside down insofar as it is crossed out. “Nothing” negated is not a reaffirmation of it, but instead the expression of a “something” that was nascent in it. This is the notion of Freudian unconscious, that consists of an implicit question, and various ways in which this question is repressed, foreclosed, projected or otherwise manipulated. Kosuth reframes this implicit question and expresses it as a negation of a negation: what remains of nothing when nothing happens to it.

In an era of oversimplified information and increasingly theatrical visual culture, Kosuth’s ability to question the complexity of meaning feels more urgent than ever. By positioning his art as a space where ideas of art, language, and politics constantly interact, ‘The Question’ invites us to reflect on how these themes resonate in today’s era of public deception and political polarisation.

 

How one makes a work must be in the service of why it is being made. To that end a work can look like anything at all, including not necessarily being visible at all.” –Joseph Kosuth

Joseph Kosuth – ‘The Question’ – London

All installation views: Ben Westoby