Kosuth, One and Three chairs

A not used excerpt from 2021 literature review, in which I'm rethinking Kosuth's One and three Chairs in reference to representation and the speculative object.

In differentiating modes of science fiction and their associated benefits and consequences, American Conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth’s One and three Chairs (1965) offers an alternative argument that different representations, and their associated mediums, aren’t competitors but can be utilised together to delineate an comprehensive description of an object.

Firstly, it is important to note Kosuth’s chair is not a speculative object, it presents a generic form of a chair, to which most people have experienced at one point. It provides no new functionality. The point of interest in Kosuth’s Three Chairs is the idea of representation.

American Conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth’s Three Chairs exemplifies how an object can exist across multiple modes of representation; an object, a manufactured 3D chair; an image, a photograph of a chair and as words, a dictionary definition of a chair, while still holding onto its meaning. [1] The chair is physically “tangible” in its form, “virtually” accessible as a written definition and “liminal” as a photographic representation.

The biggest difference between the speculative object and Kosuth’s Three Chairs is the identifiable nature of the symbol of a chair. A word and sign that instantly evokes a generic image, that doesn’t differ greatly from one person to another. The speculative object doesn’t exactly align with the notion of a sign. It is too singular and not yet commonly accepted due to its lack of existence and societal proliferation. The most notable instances the speculative object has become a sign is when it has been attributed to iconic science fiction films. For example, Space odyssey and the obelisk/monolith.

The essential idea of Kosuth in one and three chairs and semiotics is the exploration of how both “linguistic and image-based forms of communication shaped larger social and cultural structures.” A notion that is also shared with speculative objects.

Similar to One and Three Chairs, the speculative objects is also rooted in it’s “value, meaning and existence was rooted in its concept” and it's ability to communicate it effectively .

distinct properties.

represented and experienced.

Read in different ways.

[1] - Dr. Tom Folland, Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs , Khan academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/conceptual-and-performance-art/conceptual-performance/a/joseph-kosuth-one-and-three-chairs