General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E. K. Smith
General Idea, The Miss General Idea Pageant Entry Kit, 1971, mixed media, dimensions unknown, edition of approximately sixteen, unsigned and unnumbered, components of original entry kits in various collections
In the 1960s and 1970s, newsletters and publications allowed artists creating mail art to find each other. These formats also documented projects and allowed works to be seen by new audiences. Early issues of FILE Megazine, a publication founded by General Idea in 1972, featured mail art by prominent figures such as Ray Johnson and Robert Cumming( b. 1943). FILE was a key resource as it offered an artist directory of mailing addresses of those interested in correspondence networks and published imagerequest lists from Image Bank until 1975, allowing artists to submit and draw on specific images for circulation. In the mid-1970s, FILE began to orient itself as a self-contained artist project magazine and moved away from being a mail art resource. This shift mirrored larger developments within the mail art medium.
As FILE evolved, General Idea continued to collect mail art through Art
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Metropole. Founded by the artists in 1974, Art Metropole is an artist-run centre that exists to this day in Toronto. One of the reasons for its founding was the volume of mail art and ephemera General Idea collected through FILE. Like FILE, Art Metropole promoted the work of other artists, within Canada and abroad, creating new networks and partnerships.
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