TWO INSTALLATIONS BY GENERAL IDEA ARE ON VIEW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEW YORK AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
Projects: General Idea
November 28, 1996–January 7, 1997
Two installations by the Toronto art collective General Idea are on view for
the first time in the Projects gallery at The Museum of Modern Art from
November 28, 1996, to January 7, 1997.
General Idea was formed in 1968 in Toronto by artists AA Bronson, Felix Partz,
and Jorge Zontal and was prematurely dissolved due to the deaths of Zontal and
Partz in 1994. During its prolific twenty-six years of professional and
domestic partnership, General Idea created work marked by elusive meaning and
poignant wit in a range of mediums, addressing both popular culture and
mass-media formats—beauty pageants, television shows, popular magazines—as
well as the work of other artists such as Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni, and Marcel
Duchamp.
The Museum of Modern Art is presenting two installations that are central to
the AIDS-related projects developed by the group since 1987—a time when
relatively few artworks dealt specifically with AIDS—and that also rank among
their most spectacular works. One Day of AZT (1991) displays the daily
dose of AZT (then five units) as five human-size pills on the floor. Three
hundred and sixty-five sets of five smaller pills, one for each day of the
year, are arranged in monthly sequences along the walls, adding up to One
Year of AZT (1991). Inducing a state of disembodied suspension, the numbing
regularity and relentless repetition of the daily dose sets up a sad visual
mantra that evocatively counts down the passing months. An undercurrent of
tension derives from the friction between formal elegance, with its
aestheticizing denial of the pills' function, and the pervasive aura of
foreboding. Within a clinical, antiseptic gallery space, the serial geometric
arrangement becomes reminiscent of Minimal art, while the appearance of the
medication—a contrasting cobalt blue stripe over the white expansion—alludes
to hard-edge abstractions.
A Web project by General Idea has been created in collaboration with the Museum
and äda 'web on the occasion of Projects: General Idea. The
project, available through MoMA's Web site at http://12.3.56.5, includes
on-line animation and a free downloadable screen saver, and is sponsored by
ArtAIDS, a project supported by Artec and the Arts Council of England.
Projects: General Idea was organized by Lilian Tone, Curatorial
Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture. The Projects series is
made possible by the Contemporary Exhibition Fund of The Museum of Modern Art,
established with gifts from Lily Auchincloss, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro,
and Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Lauder; and grants from The Contemporary Arts Council
and The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art, and Susan G. Jacoby.
For further information or photographic materials, contact Uri Perrin,
Department of Communications, 212/708–9757.
