The issue 78/79 of Design Quarterly (journal published in 1970 by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis) was completely dedicated to possible definitions of Conceptual Architecture.
The author, architectural writer John Margolies, invited 11 artists and architects to provide their own visual account on the subject. Margolies’ letter was also used as the textual cover for the issue, hence predating of three years the similarly abundantly textual cover of Lucy Lippard‘s Six Years, the reference text on Conceptual Art published by Praeger in 1973.
The editorial approach seems somewhat ironic from a contemporary perspective: however innovative and coherent with the conceptual nature of the issue it may have seemed at that time, today the practice of inviting contributors, providing poor or nonexistent editing appears, unfortunately, rather abused.
A 38 years-old Peter Eisenman provides a compelling visual and textual essay consisting of a series of four “connect the dots” puzzles where each number is referenced in the footnotes. These ones are short texts, notes, and bibliographic references to other articles and books, both written by Peter Eisenman and other theorists or writers (among whom, again: Lucy Lippard). The last page, as demanded by the editor, consists in a photograph and a short biography of Peter Eisenman.
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