1stfans Twitter Art Feed Artist for March 2009: Joseph Kosuth
If nothing else, Shelley and I think the 1stfans Twitter Art Feed is a pretty cool concept. We readily admit that we have no idea how the art is going to turn out, but at least it’s a chance for artists to explore this new medium as a way of showing their work. If you like the idea of Twitter being used as a conceptual art space, then you’ll love the artist that is going to do the Twitter Art Feed for the month of March: Joseph Kosuth. When Shelley and I went to talk to Eugenie Tsai, our John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art, about the Twitter Art Feed in October, Joseph was one of the first names she mentioned, and we are thrilled that he agreed to help us out.
Joseph Kosuth (American, b. 1945). 276. (On Color Blue), 1990. Neon tubing, transformer, and electrical wires, 30 x 162 in. (76.2 x 411.48 cm). 1992.215, Mary Smith Dorward Fund.
Beyond the fact that he was one of the founders of the conceptual art movement in the 1960s, Kosuth appealed to us for several reasons. First, his work is in the Museum’s collection (see above). You’ll recall that was one of the reasons we wanted to work with Swoon’s studio to launch 1stfans on January 3rd. When we can, we like to try to tie our 1stfans programming back to the Museum, and Joseph helped curate a 1990 exhibition titled The Brooklyn Museum Collection: The Play of the Unmentionable. Thanks to the awesomeness that is our digital archives, you can see images from this exhibition on our website. Secondly, Kosuth often uses text in his work. With Twitter, it makes sense to try to engage artists that can use the feed to directly display their art (like An Xiao did in January). Lastly, and as I alluded to earlier, we like the idea of Twitter as an experimental space and one that can support conceptual art. Joseph’s work explores the role of language and meaning in art, and Twitter, still a relatively new creation itself, seems ripe for this type of interaction.
Here’s the thing: We have no idea what Joseph is going to do on the feed. In order to let the artists do their thing, we really do turn the feed over to them each month so they can connect directly to 1stfans via Twitter. Like a conceptual art performance, there’s something exciting about not knowing what is going to happen. Like I said, who knows how it will turn out in the end but it will be great to watch as it happens.
Many thanks to Lauren and everyone else from Sean Kelly Gallery and Kosuth’s studios in Rome and New York for their help, and we’ll see what happens in the beginning of March. If you’d like to view the Twitter Art Feed and you are not a 1stfan Member, you may join here.
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The 1stfans Twitter Art Feed is no longer a benefit of 1stfans membership, but the original feed in its entirety has been archived on the Brooklyn Museum website.
