In an introductory essay, Stephen Bann writes that "artists like Willem Boshoff and Frederic Bruly Bouabre clearly demonstrate the fertility of language-based investigations on African soil: Boshoff prepared for his work with dictionaries by lengthy exercises in concrete poetry." Okwui Enwezor contributes an essay "Where, What, Who, When: A Few Notes on "African" Conceptualism." Bann adds that "Willem Boshoff's conceptual practice is an elaborate effort dedicated to the study of ignorance, that is, pushing to the point of dissolution the idea that the world is knowable. Imprisoned by South African authorities for his refusal to serve in the military (the micrographic work, Kleinpen I, was produced in prison as a way to maintain mental equilibrium)... Boshoff finds in obscure and obsolete words a way to construct a map that denies sight but empowers knowledge...His study of linguistics and Wittgensteinian philosophy led him to explore other ways of rendering words into pulsating signs, resulting in Kykafrikaans, a serial work of concrete poetry and his most sustained inquiry into the nature of words and obsolescence. Both of these works from the Sackner Archive were lent to the exhibition and are depicted in the catalogue. The artists' biography section states that Boshoff was "influenced by philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Often years in the making, his artworks are based on extensive research in linguistics, philology, and etymology and include dictionary compilations (obsolete words, manias/phobias, ethics, colors) and checklists (i.e., major botanical gardens of the world). Produces Kleinpen as a form of mental therapy while imprisoned as a conscientious objector, reducing Andrew Murray's 364-page book Prayer Life into six pages of micrography, writing for ten minutes each day." In addition to a bibliography and an artists' biographical listing, there is an extensive chronology of events covering each of the distinctive geographical areas investigated in the exhibition: Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, Australia and New Zealand, Soviet Union, Africa, South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South and Southeast Asia. Other multiple works that are depicted in this catalogue and held by the Sackner Archive include Endre Tot's "Zeropost" 1976, postal stamps; Yoko Ono's "Grapefruit" 1964, book; and Guy Debord's "Memoires" 1958, book. Optical, typewriter poems of Jiri Valoch similar to those depicted on page 10 are held by the Sackner Archive. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.