Sonsbeek '71 radically breaks with the tradition of previous editions. Instead of sculpture, this time the exhibition focuses on international developments in contemporary art of the last five years. For the first time, Sonsbeek has a theme: spatial relations. The artists are invited to visit park Sonsbeek and create a work of art as a result of their visit. Virtually all artists visit the park, but some (including Robert Smithson) criticise the park's "artificial" nature. The working committee, led by curator Wim Beeren, then decides to allow several artists to select locations 'outside the confines' of Sonsbeek. This resulted in all kinds of projects and artworks, spread all across the Netherlands (in almost all twelve provinces!).

The working committee also wants to make visitors aware of the impact of (new) communication devices, such as the telephone and telex machine, on one's perception of space, distances and time. Thus, special communication centers are established in Arnhem, Maastricht, Leiden, Rotterdam, Groningen and Enschede, in order for visitors to use communication tools.

The concept of Sonsbeek '71, labeled in the catalogue as 'an adventure' and 'a dynamic manifestation', is both revolutionary and controversial. Not only visitors, but also art critics and even artists criticise, among other things, the dispersal of artworks and the subsidising of "elite art" - a qualification circulating in Dutch media. Sonsbeek '71 was aimed at uniting art and society, but instead it pointed out the gap between artists and art experts on the one hand and the public on the other.