Conceptual Art

In 1961 Henry Flynt used the term “concept art” in an essay. In 1967 Sol LeWitt wrote in “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art”: “In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” The planning and decisions come first; making it is only carrying them out. Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chairs (1965) sets a chair beside a photograph of that chair and the dictionary definition of “chair”. From 1968 LeWitt made more than 1,270 wall drawings, most of them put on the wall by other people following his instructions or simple diagrams, so the same work can appear again and again in different places.

Find the instructions on the wall or the label, then look at the lines actually drawn: what did the instructions decide, and what did the person drawing decide?

When all that remains of a work is a set of instructions, where is the work?