General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
After the Pavillion
General Idea began exhibiting in European
galleries in 1976 and had a vigorous European
exhibition history from then on. For the next
decade, as AA Bronson explains, “this was the
focus of our life together.”42 In 1977 the group
moved to a large studio space on Simcoe
Street.
43
At this time General Idea shifted the
approach to their pageant concept, taking on the
role of fictional archeologists. This move was
tied to the reputed destruction of the notional
1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion, which they
reported to have been engulfed in flames during
the Miss General Idea Pageant in 1984. The
artists had announced and begun staging
elements of this faux destruction in 1977,
documentation of which was used in exhibitions
and videos from that year on.
44
LEFT: Performance documentation of General Idea, The Ruins of the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion,
1977, photograph by General Idea. This performance and site-specific installation included rubble and
chalk with performative elements. The work was destroyed after the project RIGHT: General Idea, The
Three Graces (Mural Fragment from the Villa Dei Misteri of the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion), 1982,
latex enamel on wood, 246 x 218 x 5 cm, Vancouver Art Gallery
For instance, their video Hot Property,
1977–80, includes footage from this fictitious
disaster.
45
Its voiceover notes that the facts surrounding this event were very much
obscured: “But what actually happened, why did the Miss General Idea 1984 Pavillion
burst to flames and burn to the ground? Was it a spontaneous reaction of the audience?
Was it critical arson? Or was General Idea always planning to pull the rug out before the
climax? So many unanswered questions, so many loose ends, so many ambiguities and
so many clues.”
46
In subsequent exhibitions, General Idea presented the alleged ruins of
and artifacts from the Pavillion. The creation of relics and ephemera from the various
rooms of the Pavillion provided a means for General Idea to expand on different aspects
of the structure using multiple media, as well as allowing the group to continue to
engage in the concept of the pageant in new ways.
The figure of Miss General Idea also began to disappear from the group’s work in
the late 1970s. New imagery emerged, such as the poodle, which was employed in
several works. For instance, the dogs were first featured as architectural remnants from
the ruins of the Pavillion in 1981. The trio also appeared as these animals in the portrait
P is for Poodle, 1983/89, which was originally made for the cover of FILE. Other works
included the large-scale paintings Mondo Cane Kama Sutra, 1984, which depicted
fornicating dayglo poodles. As symbolic representations of the artists, this trope was a
coded means for the artists to address their queer identity and to push art critics to
address sexuality in their work.47
General Idea received their first solo museum exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum
in Amsterdam in 1979. The exhibition featured work produced during a residency, which
was organized in collaboration with de Appel, Amsterdam. De Appel commissioned a
made-for-television artwork and the exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum included the
video Test Tube, 1979.
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