General Idea

Challenging both the art world and society at large, General Idea remain a lastingly influential artist group whose groundbreaking practice spans 25 years. In the most comprehensive retrospective on the trio ever produced, the Gropius Bau presented more than 200 works from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.

Founded in 1969 in Toronto, the group – comprising Felix Partz (1945–1994), Jorge Zontal (1944–1994) and AA Bronson (b. 1946) – interrogated the production, circulation and consumption of images through a broad variety of media. Often through humour and satire, General Idea adressed various aspects of consumer culture, mass media, social inequalities, queer identity, the art economy and the AIDS crisis.

Developed in close collaboration with AA Bronson, the exhibition at the Gropius Bau brought together major installations as well as publications, videos, drawings, paintings, sculptures and archival material, providing an overview over the development of General Idea’s artistic practice.