General Idea

22.09.2023 - 14.01.2024

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 presents 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 brings 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.

Curated by Adam Welch, National Gallery of Canada and Beatrix Ruf, with the collaboration of Zippora Elders, for the Gropius Bau
Organised by the National Gallery of Canada in collaboration with the Gropius Bau