General Idea
Installation, consisting of 3 interior-illuminated, helium-filled vinyl blimps
General Idea's Pharmaİopia was first created for an exhibition in Barcelona, and was a public intervention on the Ramblas, the popular public walkway which runs through the centre of the old city. The installation is one of a series of works by General Idea using the pill form as a sculptural element, and refers directly to the AIDS pandemic, here animated by the colours of the Catalunya province of Spain: red and yellow. By coincidence, a pharmaceutical conference opened the day the blimps were unveiled. Despite the lack of didactic explanation, the meaning was abundantly clear. For the first time air-borne outdoors in Toronto, these pill/blimps are moored near the site of Toronto's original Mount Sinai Hospital at 100 Yorkville Avenue (founded in 1923 as The Toronto Hebrew Maternity and Convalescent Hospital). The building was used subsequently as an "old-folk's" home, and its façade is now retained to front a dramatic new condominium high-rise, currently under construction.
AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal -- all pseudonyms -- came together in 1969 in Toronto to form General Idea. During their legendary 25-year association, they produced a vast body of award-winning work in every conceivable medium. General Idea ended when Felix and Jorge died of AIDS in 1994. AA Bronson lives in New York and Toronto and now works as a solo artist and continues to exhibit internationally. He received the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2002.
In association with Cumberland Private Wealth Management.
Image: Pharmaİopia. Installation view, Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain, 1992
Photo credit: General Idea
Map location 2
Cumberland Private Wealth Management, 99 Yorkville Avenue
