Kosuth has said that “art is making meaning,” and in his work he investigates the ways in which art-making is tied to language. This work is part of a series based on definitions clipped from dictionary entries for words including “art,” “chair,” “meaning,” or, in this reflexive example, “definition.” Kosuth considers the work of art to be the definition of the given word, but for the purpose of presentation he asks that his original cut-out dictionary entry be photographically enlarged to a specific dimension each time the work is exhibited. This Photostat is the first realization of this work, fabricated in 1968, and as such it is shown here as a historical document.
Gallery label from 2011.