Sonsbeek '71 breaks radically with the tradition of previous editions. Instead of sculpture, it focusses on international developments in contemporary art of the previous five years. It is the first time a theme is used: spatial relationships. The artists are invited to visit park Sonsbeek and create a work of art as a result of their visit. Almost all the artists visit the park, but some (including Robert Smithson) criticise its 'artificial' nature. The working committee, led by curator Wim Beeren, decided to let a number of artists choose locations 'outside the confines' of Sonsbeek. This resulted in all kinds of projects and artworks, spread all over the Netherlands (in almost all twelve provinces!).

The working committee also wants to make visitors aware of the influence that (new) means of communication, such as the telephone and telex machine, have on the perception of space, distances and time. So special communication centres were set up in Arnhem, Maastricht, Leiden, Rotterdam, Groningen and Enschede where anyone could use these devices.

Labelled in the catalogue as an adventure and a dynamic manifestation, the concept of Sonsbeek '71 is both revolutionary and controversial. Not only visitors, but also art critics and even artists criticise, among other things, the distribution of artworks and the subsidising of "elite art" - a qualification circulating in the media. Sonsbeek '71 was supposed to unite art and society, but instead the distance between artists and art experts on the one hand and the public on the other became the main point of attention.