General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E . K . Smith
Approved in 1987 , AZT was the first drug in the United States to treat those with HIV and delay the onset of AIDS . AZT had significant side effects and was extremely toxic . Initial doses of the medication were quite high , and patients took the pills on a strict schedule throughout the day .
AA Bronson noted the personal significance of the work , as Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal were diagnosed with HIV in 1989 and 1990 , respectively : “ Our life was full of pills , our apartment was full of pills … so they became part of our work ,” he said . “ Your watch is ringing little bells every two to four hours and you have to take two of this and four of that .… [ The work ] was to create that environment , a pill environment . To reproduce that feeling . To give it a physical sense of what it ’ s like to be surrounded by pills … a very clinical atmosphere .”
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One Year of AZT is a stark installation of white pills divided by blue stripes . Its bare aesthetic and restricted colour palette make reference to the formal aspects of Minimalist art . The work also functions as a calendar : it speaks to the passing of time , with pills organized in daily and monthly groups .
Part of the artists ’ larger focus on the AIDS pandemic , One Year of AZT is usually exhibited together with the work One Day of AZT , 1991 , which features five large pills , a daily dosage of the drug . The Fiberglas pills in One Day of AZT are on a monumental scale ; each is slightly larger than a body , alluding to coffins .
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General Idea , Playing Doctor , 1992 , lacquer on vinyl , 225 x 150 cm , edition of three , various collections . In the late 1980s and early 1990s , the group produced a body of work that profoundly contributed to the discourse on HIV / AIDS
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