1905 Building

The first major museum exhibition by General Idea in the United States was organized by Curator Susan Krane. Formed in 1968, the group General Idea includes three Toronto artists—A. A. Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal—who work collectively in painting, sculpture, video, performance art, and print. They were pioneers of early conceptual and media-based art. General Idea’s work inhabited and subverted forms of popular and media culture, including beauty pageants, boutiques, television talk shows, trade fair pavilions, and mass media. Their work was often presented in unconventional media forms such as postcards, prints, posters, wallpaper, balloons, crests, and pins.

In this exhibition, the group presented farcical mythologies on the changing sets of the fictitious “1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion,” including humorous adaptations of the hierarchal symbolism of heraldry and historicisms. An illustrated catalogue, designed by General Idea with an introduction by Krane, accompanied the exhibition, along with a signed, limited edition artists’ book published in conjunction with the show.

The exhibition traveled to the 49th Parallel, Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art in New York; the University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach; and the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston.

This exhibition was organized by Curator Susan Krane.