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Join Art Metropole at the Gladstone Hotel for the Toronto launch of ZIGGURAT: GENERAL IDEA 1968-1994, with artist AA Bronson.This monographic catalogue, published to coincide with the recent exhibition at Mitchell Innes & Nash, illustrates the pervasion of the signature ‘ziggurat’ form in General Idea’s body of work and contributes to the long lineage of artists’ books in their oeuvre. Aiding the seminal and semi-fictional ‘1984 Miss General Idea Pageant,’ the ziggurat was a representation of progress, power and success—repeated, coupled and combined to express control through a basic form. With an introduction by AA Bronson and an interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, the book contains a range of fully-illustrated works including paintings, drawings, installations, sculptures and other works that all incorporate the ziggurat form.
Formed in Toronto in 1969 by AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal,General Idea is internationally recognized for work that tackled such subjects as the myth of the artist, the role of mass media, the relationship between the body and identity, gender and sexual representation and, famously, HIV/AIDS activism at a time when it was still largely considered taboo. The members of General Idea were key figures in 1970’s and ‘80’s conceptual art. With equal parts humor and criticality they created work across a variety of platforms, including performances, editions, videos, publications such as the seminal FILE Megazine, sculptures, paintings and often occupied unconventional forms of art presentation, such as beauty pageants, picture magazines, television talk shows, pop-ups and advertising. In 1974, General Idea founded Art Metropole as a distribution centre, experimental shop and archive for artists’ books, audio, video, multiples and editions. |
