General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
Shut the Fuck Up 1985
General Idea, Shut the Fuck Up, 1985
Video, 14 min.
Various collections
Shut the Fuck Up was created for Dutch television, commissioned by the festival Talking
1
Back to the Media. The video provides a candid and humorous assessment of the
media cliché of the artist. Aggressive and fast-paced, the video is structured in three
segments: “Part I: Death of a Mauve Bat”; “Part 2: Mondo Cane”; and “Part 3: XXX
(bleu).” Like Test Tube, 1979, each segment is subdivided, with three formats used:
2
talking heads, found footage, and inspirational montage. Throughout, General Idea
addresses the role of art in society and critiques the artist’s relationship to mass media.
The group comments on art’s reliance on spectacle, the lack of intelligence and agency
accorded to artists by the media, and the presumption of an artist’s disengagement from
the world. Felix Partz notes, “We’re supposed to be romantic, untamed,” and Jorge
Zontal rants, “I’m not going to play…boho to their fucking bourgeoisie.”
38