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File megazine at Torpedo books in Oslo
Jan 28, 2010 at 7 pm /until Feb 11, 2010
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FILE MEGAZINE/GENERAL IDEA EDITIONS
28 January – 11 February, 2010
On the occasion of AA Bronson's residency at OCA's International Studio Programme, we are proud to present an exclusive exhibition from Torpedo's archive. Limited edition works by General Idea will be displayed alongside original copies of FILE magazines, which will be available for closer reading. Part of this exhibition was shown at Rekord Gallery, Oslo, in the exhibition "November 2008 Artist-initiated Magazines" curated by Karen Christine Tandberg and Elin Maria Olaussen.
The artists' group, General Idea, was founded by AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal in 1968. A shared interest in mass media and popular culture permeates a body of work in which the use of communication strategies, self-mythologising and humour are central. This pioneering group worked in a variety of media, of which releases of books and editions constituted a large part. Together, they founded Art Metropole in Toronto in 1974, which functioned as a publisher, a shop for artists' books and multiples and an exhibition space.
The first issue of FILE megazine was published in 1972. FILE was not a magazine in the traditional sense, but one of General Idea's many art projects. By appropriating the name and visual profile of the popular lifestyle magazine, Life, General Idea sought distribution beyond the art world. This subversive method, of using pre-existing cultural codes, may be regarded as a precursor to the appropriation art of the 1980s and to today's media critique. A total of 26 issues of FILE were released between 1972 and 1989. Each issue was made in collaboration with a number of participants, which was consistent with the group's collective method.
General Idea lived and worked together from 1967 until the untimely deaths of Partz and Zontal of AIDS-related diseases in 1994. Today, AA Bronson is Executive Director of the legendary art book shop, Printed Matter Inc., in New York. Since 2006, he has organised the NY Art Book Fair, an annual exhibition of contemporary art books, magazines and fanzines issued by international publishers, booksellers and antiquarians.
AA Bronson will be present at the exhibition opening and available to sign copies of the FILE box, a complete reprint of the FILE series which was published by JRP|Ringier in 2008.
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