Daniel Buren consistently questions how art is conceived and perceived, and deliberately inverts the relationship that visual artworks maintain with the places where they are exhibited. Because an exhibition site is never neutral, Buren integrates the location's characteristics into the work itself, to prevent the work from being hijacked by its place of presentation.

Buren's in situ works are deduced from the sites where they take place. They integrate the role of the observer, who by perceiving visually, can understand with minimal exterior information the links between the work and the host location that prompted it. This in situ concept enables such works to be eventually replayed like a musical score, and through it, Buren has broadened the artistic field into the entire visual domain.

Author Guy Lelong examines the evolution of Daniel Buren's work from the advent of his famous 65-foot striped canvas in 1965 to his large-scale formal apparatuses of recent years. This book illuminates the origins, significance, and inherent revolutionary nature of Buren's art to date.

Guy Lelong was editor of the magazine conséquences from 1983 to 1991. He has written for a variety of contexts including book, art gallery, concert hall, stage, and essay. His textual work Un plan tramé discusses the three spatial dimensions that can be exhibited in any suitable place. His most recent work, the stage play Mobiles, was produced in collaboration with the composer Marc-André Dalbavie for the Cité de la musique in Paris.