Joseph Kosuth

Joseph Kosuth (1945, Toledo, Ohio – )

When Joseph Kosuth arrived at Celle in 1986/87, he was fascinated by the island in the center of the lake, understanding it as the true heart of Giovanni Gambini’slandscape project. He decided to work on the historical expectations of the place, with the intention of making the island’s little temple, containing a statue of a goddess, more visible. However, once visitorsapproach the temple, they discover it’s inaccessible due to the two-meter-high glass wall that the artist has erected on the island.

“This passage [by Nietzsche inscribed on the glass], a piece of shattered logic, separates the classic realm of the island from the romantic one, preventing the observer from coming into contact with the ideal static realm of classical thought that, though imperfectly and inadequately represented in Gambini’s nineteenth-century pastiche, is nonetheless evoked there. Finally, Kosuth’s work encourages observers to reflect on the grand illusion that underlies the park and to consider its reality no more substantial than ‘flashes and sparks of drawn swords.'” — Robert Hobbs in Art in Arcadia, Umberto Allemandi& C., Turin, 1993, pp.40.

Works by the artist

Modus operandi Celle

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