Joseph Kosuth (b. 1945)

“The function of art, as a question, was first raised by Marcel Duchamp...The event that made conceivable the realization that it was possible to ‘speak another language’ and still make sense in art was Marcel Duchamp’s first unassisted readymade. With the unassisted readymade, art changed its focus from the form of the language to what was being said. This change—one from ‘appearance’ to ‘conception’—was the beginning of ‘modern’ art and the beginning of ‘conceptual’ art. All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually” (J. Kosuth, “Art After Philosophy,” in A. Alberro and B. Stimson, Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology, Cambridge / London, 1999, p. 164).