From self-publishing 26 issues of FILE magazine to wallpapering public facilities with AIDS motifs and conducting the video Pilot for TVOntario broadcast, the Canadian artist trio General Idea actively infiltrated all possible public domains from the 1980s to the present. Marshall McLuhan’s idea of media may influence such an expansive use of imagery power with media. Rather than fearing the erosion of critical and independent thinking due to the widespread of mass media, McLuhan regarded it as a “magic institution” that created new tools for the emerging society. Thus, mass media itself becomes an art form for social use.

On the other hand, sharing fundamentally defined these provocateurs’ motivation. Rather than fixating on artistic discourses, Douglas Crimp claimed that “AIDS art inserts directly into society.” Such intention has inspired a generation of artistic practice that remains relevant in the present—not through valued thematic subjects or objects, nor solely through creativity, but by artists functioning as conduits between public and individual sentiment. It shares many parallels with what Nicolas Bourriaud lately called Relational Art, which suggests that a contemporary form of artistic practice focuses on the inter-human sphere.

The research first discovered the significance of the work of General Idea within the social context of mass media and the AIDS movement of the 1980s. It further discusses its relevance in the current epoch, which holds the collective desire to distort the knowledge system constructed by privileged contributors and institutions.

Authors:
Ruohong Wu, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain

About the Presenter(s)
Ruohong Wu is a PhD candidate at UPM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. Her research interest covers the assembly of public space and contemporary artistic practice. She is based in the Netherlands.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

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