General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
3
financial incentives for their deaths as a means to deal with overpopulation. Similarly,
Bronson suggested that the Styrofoam ice sheets can be viewed ambiguously, as a
plastic that can be recycled but is also non-biodegradable.4
Fin de siècle can also be read as being about the AIDS pandemic, and it is
intended as a self-portrait of General Idea, with the seal pups representing Felix Partz,
Jorge Zontal, and Bronson. Zontal characterized the installation as a representation of
the artists “adrift in uncontrollable circumstances,” alluding to the impact of the AIDS
5
crisis, which had a direct bearing on the artists’ friends and community. Here the
innocent nature of the seals, as well as their status as an endangered species,
emphasizes that some lives are more valuable than others. “It’s easier to sell ‘save the
seals,’ or ‘save the children with AIDS,’” Zontal maintained, “because they’re cuter,
rather than three middle-aged homosexuals.”6
One Year of AZT 1991
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