THE ESTATE OF GENERAL IDEA Life & Work | Page 19

General Idea Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith General Idea found sixteen potential applicants among their network—artists across North America—and mailed out entry kits to these “finalists.” The invitation promised potential competitors the chance to win “fame, 3 fun, and fortune.” Each kit contained rules and regulations, pageant documents, and a pageant 4 gown. Thirteen artists responded. Those who participated in the competition took up the task, submitting photographs that featured their choice for Miss General Idea (dressed in the provided gown). These entries were exhibited at A Space in Toronto. The extravagant award ceremony took place in Walker Court at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and presented a series of 5 excerpted moments from a pageant. The Vincent Trasov, Marcel Dot, 1971, gelatin silver print, 25.4 x 21.6 cm, Collection General Idea. This is a submission photograph from Vincent Trasov, who chose Michael Morris (a.k.a. Marcel Dot) as a contestant for The 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant, 1971 ceremony was carefully scripted and included music, speeches, and prizes. It was all captured on video as a television event, with the crowd as a stand-in for a television audience. 6 The competition judges were well-regarded figures in the art scene, including Daniel Freedman, David Silcox, and Dorothy Cameron. Freedman was one of the original members of General Idea and had lived with the group on Gerrard Street West and Yonge Street. In material for the pageant, he was identified as an actor, “General Idea Glamour Consultant, and the star of the MGM spectacular Fortune and Men’s Eyes.”7 Silcox was then the Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University and had been the former head of Visual Arts at the Canada Council.8 Cameron was a wellknown critic and art consultant who was a regular on Canada Council juries and had given Partz his first Canada Council grant. 9 The 1971 Miss General Idea crown was awarded to Vancouver artist Michael Morris (b. 1942), who at that moment announced his new name: Marcel Dot. The judges declared that his submission succeeded in “capturing ‘Glamour’ without falling into it.” Glamour Issue 1975 19 10 General Idea, The 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant, 1971, poster, photo screen print on salmon wove paper (edition of ten on white paper), 101.6 x 66 cm, various collections