General Idea was established in Toronto in 1969 by three conceptual artists who went by the pseudonyms A.A. Bronson (Michael Tims, b.1946), Felix Partz (Ronald Gabe, 1945–1994), and Jorge Zontal (Slobodan Saia-Levy, 1944–1994). The trio lived and worked together for twenty-five years, producing multimedia works, installations, art publications (FILE, 1972–89), and events (Miss General Idea Beauty Pageant) that explored themes such as fame, glamour, sexuality, and the AIDS crisis. The photographs they produced were usually part of their larger projects. In 1974 General Idea founded Art Metropole, an artist-run centre that champions art publications in any media, including print and video works.

For further reading, see:

Art Metropole. “About Art Metropole,” 2020. artmetropole.com/about.

Smith, Sarah E.K. General Idea: Life and Work. Toronto: Art Institute of Canada, 2016.

Image Bank was an artistic collaboration between Michael Morris (b.1942, Sussex, England), Vincent Trasov (b.1947, Edmonton), and, until 1972, Gary Lee-Nova (b.1943, Toronto). Based in Vancouver and connected to the artist-run centre Intermedia, they explored what they described as “art mailed between artists.” Image Bank sought collaboration in its quest to engage with the torrent of information and images delivered through the mass media. Their 1971 exhibition, Image Bank Post Card Show, displayed thousands of postcards sent in response to a call for images. Like General Idea, Image Bank turned to irony and camp, derived from queer culture and kinship, in their quest to merge art and life.

Image: Piss pic by Michael Morris contribution to Image Bank request mailing, 1972, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

For further reading, see:

Watson, Scott. “In the Image Bank.” In Image Bank, 11. Vancouver and Berlin: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, 2019.