General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E. K. Smith
This attention in Europe was a significant achievement; AA Bronson noted that Switzerland, Austria, and Italy were particularly receptive to General Idea’ s work at this time. Key exhibitions in the early 1980s included the Venice Biennale in 1980, where General Idea was part of the group exhibition Canada Video. In Venice they presented Pilot, 1977, and Test Tube, 1979. In 1982 they presented Cornucopia, 1982, as well as an installation that included painted constructions and works on paper, at the important exhibition Documenta 7 in Kassel, Germany. That same year, they presented work in photography and performance at the Biennale of Sydney.
“ Because we were so ironic,” Bronson stated,“ in Canada we were seen as not being really serious. Also, people would tell us that you can’ t be a group and be an artist, artists don’ t work in groups. But when we went to Europe … we were very quickly picked up and written about in political terms, Marxist terms, because we operated as a group, because we operated by consensus, because of the critical intent inherent in the work, and I think to a certain extent because of the sexual aspect: that we were, if not clearly gay, at least sexually
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ambiguous.” The international critical reception of General Idea’ s work influenced how the group understood their practice and also filtered back to North American audiences.
In 1984 the group received recognition in the form of a large, touring retrospective titled The 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion. Bronson notes that this show was extremely important in terms of General Idea’ s career as it was initiated by two of the most-influential museums in the period: the Kunsthalle Basel and the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven. The European retrospective allowed the artists to reflect on their past production and rethink their future. The group identified this moment— the symbolism of the year 1984 and their increased recognition— as a new era in their practice.“ We had made that commitment to work together’ til 1984,” explained Felix Partz.“ So here was 1984 …. We were involved in this retrospective, but also we were involved with this
52 conclusion of a project. Or was it?” At this point General Idea had not yet received any
recognition in the United States. Bronson also explains that though they were not taken seriously in Canada, they exhibited their work at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1984.
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Installation view of General Idea, Khroma Key Klub: The Blue Ruins from the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion, 1985, installation, scenic acrylic on found Styrofoam objects, approximately 400 x 1,000 x 1,000 cm, photograph by Wim Riemens. International critical attention paid to General Idea’ s work preceded recognition from institutions in Canada. This installation view is from De Vleeshal, Middelburg, the Netherlands, 1985. Khroma Key Klub was destroyed after its exhibition
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