Artist: Joseph Kosuth

“A work of art is a kind of proposition presented within the context of art as a comment on art.” - Joseph Kosuth, 1969

Sean Kelly presents Future Memory, a landmark exhibition celebrating the 80th birthday of Joseph Kosuth, one of the most influential and pioneering figures in conceptual art. This unique exhibition, his seventh with the gallery, distinguishes itself as a presentation about the work of Joseph Kosuth, rather than one conceived by him and features works from every decade of his career. Future Memory encapsulates Kosuth’s lifelong engagement with the fundamental questions of art, meaning, and language.

Beginning with ‘One and Three Mirrors’ (1965) Kosuth established his lifelong commitment to investigating the production and role of language and meaning within art. Meaning is embodied in the relationship between the three parts that make up ‘One and Three Mirrors’, image, object and text. By placing a commonplace object, such as a mirror alongside its image and definition within an art context, two of Kosuth’s abiding influences, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Marcel Duchamp are strikingly clear. Wittgenstein’s contention that meaning is use is an abiding concern throughout Kosuth’s career as he continues to question the function of art; a question first posed by Marcel Duchamp. In the most recent work in the exhibition ‘The Question (G.S.)’ (2025) Kosuth continues his personal and philosophical reflection on time. Here he both begins and ends with a question positioned on a clock whose hands mechanically carry on, oblivious to the human lives and narratives beyond their measure.

Joseph Kosuth’s practice redefined the role of the artist, challenging traditional notions of art as object, artist as curator, language as art, and elevating the importance of ideas and critical thought. Future Memory highlights the continuity within his oeuvre and the profound impact of his inquiries into perception, memory, and the processes of thought. By employing language as both medium and message, Kosuth’s work continues to defy artistic boundaries, inviting viewers to rethink art’s place in culture and society.

Joseph Kosuth has influenced generations of artists, philosophers, and cultural thinkers. His work is featured in major private and public collections worldwide including the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; the Tate Gallery, London; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Louvre Museum, Paris; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome amongst many others worldwide. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Louvre Museum, Paris, France; the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia; the Kunstmuseum, Thurgau, Wrath, Switzerland; Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland; and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia amongst others. He has also been invited to participate in numerous installations, museum exhibitions, and public commissions, including Documenta and the Venice Biennale on multiple occasions. In 2019 Kosuth installed a permanent public installation at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami, FL and the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA.

To honor this milestone anniversary, Sean Kelly, New York, Sprüth Magers, London and Lia Rumma, Naples, are dedicating three unique solo exhibitions to Joseph Kosuth in 2025: Sprüth Magers, ‘The Question’, January 24–March 15, 2025; Sean Kelly, Future Memory, March 7 – April 18; and Lia Rumma, ‘The Question’, April 10 – May. These exhibitions collectively reaffirm Kosuth’s enduring international importance and the ongoing influence of his work worldwide.