General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
projects about the Pavillion that were framed in several ways and included
reconstructions of the Pavillion, the creation of fragments as constructs towards the
future, as well as the production of archeological remains of the Pavillion. In this way,
the past, present, and future of the Pavillion was constantly shifting. As AA Bronson
explains, “We muddled up time, mixing the past and future.” The Boutique is presented
as an element of the future Pavillion.
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The functionality of the Boutique is central
to the artists’ commentary. When the work was
first presented at Carmen Lamanna Gallery in
Toronto in 1980–81, it included a full-time
attendant who facilitated purchases. At this initial
installation, viewers were allowed to handle the
items on display, because it was a retail outlet.
In some subsequent displays of the work, it
functioned as a shop. For example, it was shown
at the ARCO art fair in Madrid; it was positioned
in the middle of the gallery shop at SPIRAL in
Tokyo; and a salesperson and sales were
included at the 49th Parallel Centre for
Contemporary Canadian Art in New York.2
Other museum displays of the work were
unable to function like this due to conflicts with
existing museum stores or the stigma associated
with inserting commerce into the museum
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space. For example, some exhibitions did not
have an attendant, or did not allow for full
Installation view of General Idea, The Boutique from the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion, 1980, Art
Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, photograph by General Idea. Shaped as a three-dimensional dollar sign, the
Boutique was designed to sell multiples, posters, prints, and publications. Installation view unknown
access to the multiples, displaying them under
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Plexiglas. As curator Lillian Tone explains, the
Boutique predates a trend now common within museums: “Made at a time when the
sound of cashiers still seemed outlandish in the immaculate environment of the
exhibition space,” she states, “the Boutique presaged the increasing pervasiveness of
temporary shops occupying space once exclusively assigned to art.”
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The Boutique also appeared in other General Idea projects. For instance, “The
Special $ucce$$ Issue” of FILE Megazine in 1981 was designed as an advertising insert
for the Boutique and its inventory, promoting the multiples available at the shop. As Tone
notes, “Much of the Boutique’s power resides in its ambiguous perception by the public,
in the uncertainty of looking at a shop or at an artwork.”
Cornucopia 1982
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