15 Locations

1967

From student to teacher

Silas Rhodes, the founder and president of the School of Visual Arts, moves Kosuth from the student body onto the faculty; the appointment nearly causes a revolt among instructors, many of whom were irritated by his questioning of basic assumptions. He teaches at the school until 1985.

1967

Founds the Museum of Normal Art

With Christine Kozlov, while both are still students at the School of Visual Arts, he founds the Museum of Normal Art in New York, which gives the first exposure to artists such as Robert Ryman, On Kawara and Hanne Darboven.

1968

A Cassandra Foundation grant, chosen by Duchamp

At 23 he receives a Cassandra Foundation grant as the choice of Marcel Duchamp, made a week before Duchamp’s death.

1968–1969

Writes “Art after Philosophy”

At twenty-four Kosuth writes a text that has since been seen as a kind of manifesto of Conceptual art: it gave the practice the only theoretical framework it had at the time and attacked Greenbergian formalism. His writings of these years set off a re-evaluation of Marcel Duchamp’s importance; the essay was later translated into 14 languages.

1969

First solo show at Leo Castelli Gallery

His first solo exhibition is held at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York.

1969

The exhibition “Fifteen Locations” across the world

He organizes an exhibition of his work, “Fifteen Locations,” held simultaneously at fifteen museums and galleries around the world.