General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E . K . Smith
an artist-run centre in Vancouver , in which General Idea rehearses audience actions , including reactions and exit , in preparation for the pageant .
The 1984 Miss General Idea Pageant was also referenced in the video Cornucopia , 1982 , which presents the ruins of the Pavillion . In 1977 General Idea asserted that the Pavillion had been destroyed by fire . Cornucopia appropriated the style of a museum documentary to convey the fictional account of the ruins of The 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion . Along with an authoritative voiceover that conveyed puns and innuendo , the video features spinning ceramic phalluses and drawings of poodles and ziggurats . Through these fragments and images , the video presents the history of the Pavillion . The video also speaks to General Idea ’ s larger oeuvre , referencing other projects by the group , including the Colour Bar Lounge .
Many General Idea video projects in the later 1970s and 1980s engaged with television , seeking to subvert some of its most prevalent formats . Pilot , 1977 , Test Tube , 1979 , Loco , 1982 , and Shut the Fuck Up , 1985 , were specifically created for public broadcast — fittingly , given the group ’ s desire to infect the system .” Pilot , for example , uses the structure of a news show to introduce General Idea and their adoption of the pageant scheme , and incorporates some previous audience-rehearsal footage . Test Tube also engages with several popular television formats , including the news magazine , the infomercial , and the talk show .
General Idea helped to facilitate the development and dissemination of video art in Canada , most significantly by founding Art Metropole in 1974 . A Toronto-based artistrun centre still in existence , Art Metropole collected and distributed artist videos in a period when few institutions were engaged in these endeavours . The institution also
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published Video by Artists ( 1976 ), a key survey of video art in Canada edited by mediaart curator and writer Peggy Gale . Throughout their career , General Idea maintained an interest in video and their works kept pace with advancements in the medium .
Installation view of General Idea , Cornucopia : Fragments from the Room of the Unknown Function in the Villa Dei Misteri of the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion , 1982 – 83 , video installation , various elements with videotape Cornucopia , 1982 , overall installation 243.8 x 426.7 x 243.8 cm , San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , photograph by General Idea . Installation view unknown
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Performance Art Performance art , called body art in the 1960s , used the body in a manner that necessarily highlighted political awareness and was also tied to key developments in alternative theatre .
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The members of General Idea met in Toronto at Theatre Passe Muraille . Founded in 1968 by Jim Garrard , this progressive company was focused on eliminating the barrier between actors and audience . AA Bronson , Jorge Zontal , and Felix Partz — who were in
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