What Was That Piece Now?

It was last Friday in early morning, and I was on my usual morning routine, walking along the crowded sidewalk towards my office. Although the city was bustling and noisy as usual, it certainly was a beautiful morning. Ironically, I never really enjoyed walking through the streets of New York City before, but fortunately on the day before that morning I had received a huge promotion in my work and an extra bonus in cash, so I was in my best mood in months. There was a swift, cool, morning breeze during that morning(which happens to be my favorite weather during morning), which made my start of the day even better. Before going to the office, I decided to stop by my favorite coffee shop and enjoy a quick meal of coffee and croissant I crave. I sat down at one of the corner tables, ordered the stuff, and began to read the day’s newspaper. When I started my first cup of coffee, someone came and sat behind me, and ordered the same coffee as mine. I continued on, reading newspaper and drinking coffee, and waited for my order of croissant.

After a moment, I finally received my crescent bread. As soon as I was about to take my first bite, I heard a loud tap on the glass window behind me. I glanced to my back, and I noticed that the person who tapped on the window had already made his way into the coffee shop. He rushed towards the man who was sitting behind me with a smile, and the man greeted him to sit down.

“Well, Mr. Mel Bochner, it’s been a long time,” the man said, “Have a seat, my fellow.”

“It certainly has been a long time, Joseph,” Mel greeted back, taking his seat, “Glad to see you here again. What brings you here to New York City again in such a long time?”

“Nothing much particularly,” Kosuth answered, “Just came back to tour around the town.”

Mel Bochner and Joseph Kosuth. Two of the most well-known conceptual artists in America. When I heard them mentioning each other’s name, I was shocked yet glad that two respected artists were sitting right behind me.

“Oh, come on. I know you better than that,” Mel said, “There has to be something for you to come back here without letting me know beforehand. And don’t tell me your drifting mind somehow led you here . . . I mean, I know that you daydream often, but you always know where you are and where you go to.”

Joseph smiled and said, “Hah, I guess I can’t go around and fool my old colleagues,” he paused, and continued, “The truth is, I got invited to come and lecture about one of my old artworks at School of Visual Arts.”

“School of Visual Arts?” Mel asked, “Isn’t that the place you studied fine arts in?”

“Yes, back in the old 60s,” Kosuth answered, “It’s a bit nostalgic, and brings back some wanted and unwanted memories.”

“Guess that proves how time flies by,” Mel said, “Back then you were just another student, and 40 years later you are invited to be a lecturer. Feels like 40 years passed by like they were yesterday and the day before.”

Kosuth agreed, “It sure feels that way.”

Mel continued with questions, “Anyways, what did the school ask you to lecture? It must be something quite big for them to invite you to be their guest lecturer.”

Kosuth hesitated for a moment, then answered, “Well, nothing too big. I am to lecture about my one of my old works, One and Three Chairs.”

“The one and what?” Mel asked. He sounded like he just heard something he has never heard before. That was weird, because even I, who don’t know much about art, have heard and seen that artwork before.

“One and Three Chair,” Kosuth answered, surprisingly without any concerns for Mel being shocked, “It was a piece I made back in the 60s when I was studying at the school.”

“Well, what kind of work was it?” Mel asked again.

“Well, you remember how I daydreamed a lot back then?” Kosuth said, “I was caught in a daydream one day, and a chair came into my sight, and I began to think ‘Oh I have to make something out of that chair’ so I started to make something out of it.”

“So what was it that you made?” Mel continued asking.

“I took the chair home,” Kosuth continued, “searched for its definition, took a photo of it, and placed them next to the actual chair that I had taken.”

“Huh . . . and what was the meaning behind all that?” Mel asked, “I know that you daydream a lot, but I also know that you are a deep thinker.”

“It’s representation, Mel,” Kosuth answered, “I wanted to represent each of the three elements to stand as its own meaning, but at the same time representing the object ‘chair’ when combined. Each can stand on its own and still be able to show people what chair is, but when I put the photo, text, and object all next to each other, it became that much more meaningful in its representation of the object ‘chair’.”

There was a moment of silence, until Mel asked, “But why a chair?”

Kosuth answered immediately, “Then why not a chair? The truth is, things like chair are used so commonly everyday that people don’t even realize the importance of them anymore. So in the end, I wanted to take something that is so common and turn it into something special by representing it in three ways so that people would realize the existence of it.”

“Huh . . . interesting,” Mel mumbled, “But why a chair?”

“Didn’t I just answer that right now?” Kosuth answered, a little irritated, “sure I could have used something like a table or a coffee cup, and named my piece ‘One and Three Tables’ or ‘One and Three Cups’, but at the moment, chair seemed to be the most ideological object or the piece.”

There was another moment of silence, and suddenly Mel started to laugh.

“What is it that you find so tremendously funny?” Kosuth asked.

“You know,” Mel started, “What you just have said has reminded me of one of my own works I did long ago, and the fact is, the idea for that piece was very similar of that of yours.”

“Oh?” Kosuth asked, “And what was that work?”

“It was called ‘Four Comments Concerning Photograph’” Mel answered, “About blocks, and it was a project for a monument exhibition. Just like you did, I first defined the term ‘block’, but after that I took a different approach and added descriptions that fell into negative direction.”

“Such as?” Kosuth asked again. The table has turned now, and Kosuth was the one asking.

“Oh, such things like why I had chosen photograph to represent a monument, and why someone would do a piece on a monument like that.” Mel answered, “The only thing I feel different about that piece from the one you had mentioned is that mine only had text represented through photography, and yours was separated into three elements of photo, text, and reality.”

“True,” Kosuth said, “perhaps we really did have similar thoughts back then. One way or another, we both came up with something representational to describe an object we were focused on.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Mel said, “Maybe it would be interesting if you created another piece similar to that chair piece you had already made.”

“Oh really?” Kosuth asked, with pitch in his voice, “And what, should I take that chair that you are sitting on right now and call it ‘One and Three Chairs The Second?”

“I’m just kidding with ya,” Mel said, smiling, “I know you are a great artist in the end, and I would respect whatever you make or do as long as it has meaning within.”

And with that, the two artists started to take their leave. By the time they were gone, I had already finished my fourth cup of coffee, and didn’t even realize I was running late for the work. However, I didn’t feel too bad about it, for hearing the exchange of words by two of the greatest conceptual artists was interesting and something that people don’t hear everyday. After my fifth cup of coffee, I rushed to work, and that was that for the morning of last Friday.