General Idea

Editions 1967 – 1995

25. Februar - 16. April 2006

The collaborative team of artists – General Idea’s AA Bronson, Felix Partz †, and Jorge Zontal † - came to international attention for their incisive interventions in the contemporary media environment of the late 60s and early 70s. Pioneers of conceptual and media-based practices in Toronto, their work included installation, performance, video, photography, as well as edition-based works. Their collaboration became a model for artist-run initiatives and successive generations of artists. To this day their work remains acutely relevant for younger artists, for the articulations of ‘queer identities’ and the imaginative formation of alternative communities. General Idea perfected the principle of inhabitation of the forms of popular culture and of bending these to their own needs.

 

An integral part of General Idea’s practice has been the design and fabrication of mass-produced articles, multiples and editions, including postcards, prints, posters, as well as wallpaper, balloons, crests and TV dinner plates. General Idea editions are not just a commercial product, that is, secondary or even subordinated manifestations of more important original works.

Instead, the editions, as Friedemann Malsch has put it, form an important and coherent grouping of the complete work. They form a discourse that is constitutive of the group’s broader artistic concepts, such as that of the ‘Image Virus,’ the devaluation of originality and artistic genius, and their ironic and critical analysis of the art business, the gallery as a commercial enterprise, and the role of the media.

 

The first definitive exhibition and complete retrospective of General Idea editions already toured Canada and went to the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh in Autumn 2005. Kunstverein München is pleased to now show General Idea Editions 1967-1995 as the first European institution in the context of its exhibition year ‘Possible Identities’.

 

Curated by Barbara Fischer.

Video interview with AA Bronson (QT, 80 MB)