DM 1 Variable Piece #70: 1971 is part of a series Douglas Huebler started in 1968 as an attempt to document the existence of "everyone alive." In 1977 Huebler explained, "In some circumstances I have designed a work's destiny to remain 'in process' for years-in some, beyond the life expectancy of an owner-in order to demand that the real production of the 'art' be the responsibility of ownership, and to suspend the consumption of art-as-object."

While many conceptual artists were interested in the critique of art's commodity status, Huebler's approach was different. Because the owner was responsible for the work's production as well as its consumption, it was impossible to possess the completed work as an art "object."  Although rigidly systematic, the form of documentation is highly idiosyncratic. Moreover, the subject of each photograph is identified by an aphorism-in this case, "At least one person who would leave no stone unturned"-that parodies both the objectivity of the archive and claims for its completeness.