One and three chairs

One and Three Chairs is a work of art by Joseph Kosuth from 1965 . The work consists of a chair, a photograph of the chair and an entry in the dictionary with a definition of the word "chair". Kosuth's work "One and three chairs" marks the beginning of conceptual art . After Plato's thoughts on the idea of an object, he questions its various forms of appearance - a real armchair, a photo of it and an entry about it in a dictionary.

The photographer reproduces the chair in its current location in the room, so that the work of art changes every time it is installed in a new environment.

However, two elements of the work remain: the exact copy of an encyclopedia article about the word "chair" and a diagram that contains instructions for the structure. These two constant picture elements have been signed by Kosuth. One instruction for the installer is to choose a chair, place it in front of a wall and take a picture of it. This photo should then be enlarged to the size of the chair and again hung on the left of the chair. Finally, an enlargement of the lexicon article is to be hung to the right of the chair whose upper back is to be matched with the photograph.

Web links

• Thomas Dreher Intermedia Art: Conceptual art: Illustration "One and Three Chairs", version with English-German definition (blow-up of a dictionary entry with a translation from English into German).
• Center Georges Pompidou Paris: Version with English-French definition (blow-up of a dictionary entry with a translation from English into French).
• Remko Scha / Jochem van der Spek Algorithmic Art and Artificial Intelligence: Conceptual Art: Tautologies (with three examples). Institute of Artificial Art Amsterdam (IAAA), Course.