General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E . K . Smith
Cornucopia is a series of static images and clips , including scenes of shifting light and colour , rotating ceramic phallic shapes , and drawings , often accompanied by instrumental music . A voiceover conveys a narrative about General Idea , yet this narrator unsettles its presumed authority employing sexual innuendo and word puns . The video explains the destruction of the Pavillion — a fictitious event said to have happened in 1984 that enabled the group to take on the role of archeologists and create supposed ruins from the Pavillion . General Idea , as the narrator notes , “ reintroduced destruction into the architectural process .”
The documentation of the Pavillion presented in the video includes black and white line drawings depicting key elements of the General Idea aesthetic . These include ziggurat motifs , a recurring visual symbol in General Idea ’ s work , with lines that reference ancient stepped towers . Another central symbol is the poodle , a reference to the trio ’ s queer identity . The narrator speaks to the significance of the poodle , noting “ its effete banal image , [ and ] its desire to be preened and groomed for public appearances .” The video also references other icons and projects from General Idea ’ s oeuvre , including the Colour Bar Lounge , an element of the Pavillion depicted in the video Test Tube , 1979 .
The video Cornucopia is significant as it reveals much of the language and imagery that occupied General Idea in the early 1980s , shedding light on the many layers of their self-referential projects . The video also demonstrates how General Idea continued to play with fiction and reality by exploring the invented ruins of the Pavillion in a video format imbued with authority .
General Idea , The Unveiling of the Cornucopia ( A Mural Fragment from the Room of the Unknown Function in the Villa Dei Misteri of the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion ), 1982 , enamel on plasterboard and plywood , five panels , each 244 x 122 cm , University of Lethbridge Art Collection . This mural fragment is one of many alleged relics and ephemera from the fictional destruction of The 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion
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