General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
Installation view of General Idea, XXX (bleu), 1984, installation resulting from a performance; set of three canvases: acrylic on canvas, each 493.5 x 296 cm; set of three poodle
mannequins: straw, synthetic fur, acrylic, each standard breed size 74 x 20 x 77 cm; overall 350 x 988 x 143.5 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. This installation view is from
Haute Culture: General Idea. A Retrospective, 1969–1994 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2011–12
Installation
Contemporary installations are often described as “site-specific”: they are assemblages
of materials intended to reconfigure a particular space and place, often for a limited
duration of time. General Idea worked with installations extensively throughout their
career. Their interest in the medium intensified via their HIV/AIDS-related work in the
1990s.
General Idea’s initial installations took place within their home at 78 Gerrard
Street West in Toronto. The Belly Store, 1969, created with artist John Neon (b. 1944),
for instance, made use of the living room of their house. Ambient music played while
motorized “bellies” moved in tanks filled with black liquid. In the same room, the group
presented George Saia’s Belly Food, 1969. The multiple was made from plastic bottles
with custom labels, which were filled with cotton batting. It was sold from a makeshift
store counter that featured a cash register. This commercial set up announces the
group’s interest in commerce, which was elaborated in installations such as The
Boutique from the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion, 1980, ¥en Boutique, 1989, and
Boutique Coeurs volants, 1994/2001.
68