The execution of the artwork is of secondary importance and does not have to be done by the artist himself. The focus is on the concept and idea, which are considered equally important for the artistic work. In this sense, finished paintings and sculptures are replaced by sketches, written documents, instruction texts or, under certain circumstances, artist's books, which develop their own aesthetic qualities. One of the aims is the "dematerialisation" of the artwork and the involvement of the viewer. Familiar ways of seeing, concepts and contexts of the world are questioned, new rules are invented. Contexts, meanings and associations are worked with.
Theorists of conceptual art are Mel Bochner, Sol LeWitt, Art & Language, Joseph Kosuth and Victor Burgin. An artistic role model of this movement was Marcel Duchamp. He distinguished his art from "retinal art", which acts predominantly on the eye (for example, in a gimmicky way) rather than as an idea or linking of meaning in thought. This approach often makes conceptual art seem elitist, brittle and difficult to access to the layperson. Some works of conceptual art can only be understood through an examination of the artist and his or her thinking.