Blocking

General Idea

1974, 17 min, color, sound

Blocking documents General Idea's 1974 performance at the artist-run center The Western Front in Vancouver, one of a series that began with the Miss General Idea Pageants of 1970 and 1971 and became part of the extended project The 1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion. Here they "rehearse" the audience staging and reactions in preparation for the 1984 Miss General Idea Pageant.

Cornucopia

General Idea

1982, 9:52 min, color, sound

General Idea's mock documentary comprises a constellation of images and iconography that construct an "archaeology" of media and culture via a fictional museum. Cornucopia interrogates the process by which objects become history, are preserved or left in ruin, and the architectures of the private and public domains. The "documentary" acts as a kind of time capsule, and the "cornucopia" strips meaning and produces objects, abstracting the familiar and immortalizing it within the museum space.

Double Mirror Video

General Idea

1971, 5:50 min, b&w, sound

In this early conceptual experiment by General Idea, the artists manipulate reflecting surfaces to generate optical "feedback." Two mirrors are positioned to face one another over the edge of a lake. The mirrors are gradually tilted as the camera zooms in and out, revealing fragments of faces and rippling water. The multiplication of reflections produces a kaleidoscopic, disorienting effect.

Loco

General Idea

1982, 9 min, color, sound

In Loco, General Idea reflects on their formative creation and muse "Miss General Idea." Clips salvaged from a purported 1968 film showing glimpses of the mythical Miss General Idea are interspersed with video montages of General Idea artists Bronson, Zontal and Partz, dressed as poodles (an iconic General Idea motif) and meditating in a wilderness.

Pilot

General Idea

1977, 28:56 min, color, sound

Produced for public television broadcast in Ontario, this witty survey of General Idea's early work takes the form of a prime-time newsmagazine, with General Idea as the subject. Hosts AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal describe their collective transformation from young strivers to "famous, glamorous artists," and the diversification of the General Idea media empire. Using a library of clips, they recount General Idea's public performances, films, magazine projects, and fashion designs.

Shut the Fuck Up

General Idea

1984, 14 min, color, sound

"In Shut the Fuck Up, General Idea underline the media's insistence that only gossip and spectacle make art and artists interesting to the public. On the contrary, General Idea point out, artists are no fools, nor do they operate within "a passive yet cleverly deceitful, alienated cult of the imbecile.' Jorge Zontal has the last word: 'When there is nothing to say, shut the fuck up.'" — "Video Art in Canada" - V-Tape

Test Tube

General Idea

1979, 28:15 min, color, sound

Produced by De Appel, Amsterdam, while General Idea was in residence there, Test Tube was conceived as a program for television. Presented under the brand "The Color Bar Lounge," the program is a hybrid of popular television formats, including talk show, soap opera, news magazine, and infomercial.