Sonsbeek ’71: Sonsbeek Buiten de Perken vormde een radicale breuk met eerdere edities. Het trok internationale aandacht want nog nooit eerder werden de nieuwste ontwikkelingen in de Conceptuele Kunst, Minimal Art, Land Art en Performance Art op deze schaal samengebracht. Voor het eerst werkte de tentoonstelling ook met een thema, ruimtelijke verhoudingen, en een curator, Wim Beeren.

Artists were invited to create an artwork based on their visit to Park Sonsbeek. Most artists did visit the park, and some (including Robert Smithson) criticized its artificial nature. The working committee, led by curator Wim Beeren, therefore decided to give some artists the choice to go beyond the boundaries of Park Sonsbeek Park. Ultimately, locations throughout the whole of the Netherlands were selected, resulting in a wide variety of projects and artworks.

One of the goals of the exhibition was to make visitors aware of the influence of (then new) communication technologies, such as the telephone and the telex machine, on the perception of space, distance and time. As a result, special communication centers were set up in Arnhem, Maastricht, Leiden, Rotterdam, Groningen, and Enschede where visitors were given the opportunity to use these devices. In the communication center in Park Sonsbeek, a video studio and discussion hall were installed.

Especially due to the use of installations and audio-visual equipment, the exhibition strongly deviated from the previous ones. The concept of Sonsbeek '71, which was described in the catalogue as an adventure and a dynamic manifestation, was both revolutionary and controversial. Visitors, but also art critics and even some of the artists, criticized the spreading out of the artworks and the subsidization of ‘elitist art,’ a qualification which circulated in the media. Although Sonsbeek '71 aimed to bring art closer to the public, it seemed to demonstrate and even increase the distance between art and art experts and the public. With 17.000 visitors the attendance was disappointing. Nevertheless, the 1971 edition is still regarded as one of the most revolutionary contemporary art exhibitions ever.