Contemporary art movements such as conceptual art, performance art, and minimalism emphasized ideas, experience, and process over the tangible artwork; thus, related printed documents often provided the only evidence of a work’s existence. From the Library’s vertical files, this selection of documents accompanied such ephemeral works and, among other functions, accessorized a performance piece, such as John Cage’s Variations IV; invited participation in the art-making process itself, such as Allan Kaprow’s happenings posters; and provided schema for the execution of a work, such as Dan Graham’s Performance.

The installation is curated by Anne H. Simmons, reference librarian for vertical files and microforms, department of library reader services, National Gallery of Art.