In August 1971 Laszlo Beke—a renowned Hungarian art historian and curator of several progressive art events of the 1970s—asked 28 artists to submit their reaction to the concept “WORK = the DOCUMENTATION OF THE IMAGINATION/IDEA” on A4 sheets. Beke arranged and preserved the contributions in folders, which have been available for viewing over the last 30 years only in his flat, which has thus become a center of archival research and study for artists interested in Conceptual art.
This comprehensive documentation is now published as facsimiles with English translations, accompanied by Beke's essay describing the context of the project, as well as biographical data of the participants who include Imre Bak, Miklos Erdely, Gyorgy Jovanovics, Ilona Keseru, Dezso Korniss, Laszlo Lakner, Gyula Pauer, Geza Perneczky, Sándor Pinczehelyi, Tamas Szentjoby, and Endre Tot, among others.
The present volume thus makes widely available for the first time an important cornerstone of Conceptual art in Hungary, and brings to light works very rarely exhibited since their creation.
