Van Elk’s "Slap tentje / Slack tent" depicts a carefully-crafted tent sculpture by the artist, part of a series of early works that indicate Van Elk’s conceptual direction. The sculptures are small in scale and some incorporate non-traditional textiles such as lace and gauze. The size of the sculptures and their delicacy which act to negate their utility. Van Elk’s contemporaries and viewers would have made a connection between the artist’s “camping art” and imagery from the Vietnam War that was being circulated during the time of the conflict. By creating non-functional tents, he prompted his viewers to consider the futility of the conflict.

The conceptual foundation of Van Elk’s work is often translated through humorous paradoxes. "Slap tentje / Slack tent" plays on the idea of the tent as an emblem of war. In the 1960’s photography was still linked towards objectivity, and the medium was taken up by conceptual artists because it offered a step toward de-materialization.