The Museum of Conceptual Art was founded in the last century by Earl Vickers.The Museum defines "conceptual art" as the art of concepts — art in which ideas themselves are the material, the medium, and/or the subject matter. Any accompanying visual representations are purely secondary and largely unnecessary. Thus, we reclaim "conceptual art" from the legions of visual chauvinists who feel entitled to a God-given monopoly on any phrase containing the word "art."
Conceptual art is a high concept movie without the movie. Conceptual art is the shadow in Plato's cave, without Plato or his phony cave. Conceptual art is the realization that once you've come up with the idea for a painting, the actual painting is redundant. Conceptual art is the dog looking at the finger pointing at the moon, while the tree falls and one hand claps. Would you like that in bronze?
To Salvador Dali's assertion that "there is no such thing as a lazy masterpiece," conceptual art replies, "so what?" This is not to deny the need to apply what the Buddhists call "skillful means," but let's not get carried away. It's not like we get paid for this stuff.
For example, if your art consists of urinating on paintings by, say, the nation's most collected living artist, why not buy cheap prints instead of expensive originals? Or scribble the painter's name on a blank canvas and pee on that. Cheaper still, just tell people you pissed on the artist himself. These are just examples.
Conceptual art is the logical extension of the trend toward software, microchips, virtualization, miniaturization and dematerialization. If we get tired of things being light and ephemeral, we can always make them big and lumbering again. With the latest advances in meme engineering, conceptual art seeks the easiest, most efficient ways of planting ideas, painting pictures and projecting films inside your head. For example, make up an example yourself.
The World Wide Web (soon available in paperback) is a home movie of ideas, a more efficient way for mankind to read its own mind. The search engine is the ultimate idea pull-cart, the killer app of conceptual art. The Museum of Conceptual Art hereby incorporates the entire Web by reference, along with whatever you're thinking right now.
P.S. This could be bullshit.