Events > Exhibition

03 Feb. - 29 Mar. 2026

On Display: General Idea

Rare and Out of Print Books and Editions

Art Metropole is pleased to present a display of rare and out of print artists’ books, catalogues, and editions by General Idea, produced between 1975–2017.

General Idea was formed in Toronto in 1969 by Jorge Zontal (1944–1994), Felix Partz (1945–1994), and AA Bronson (b. 1946). They began publishing FILE Megazine in 1972 as a magazine by artists for artists, an offshoot of the mail art phenomenon that was happening at the time. To their surprise, the international mail art community responded with bushel-bags of mail art, which they felt had cultural value. In 1974 they established Art Metropole as both an archive and a distribution centre for artists’ non-traditional materials, including mail art, artists’ books and magazines, video, and audio. Both a publishing practice and a shop inevitably followed. To General Idea, Art Metropole was itself, conceptually, an artwork.

The publications and editions exhibited in this display are a testament to the group’s boundary-pushing media practice and their contributions to non-traditional art forms and artist-run culture internationally.

Browse available General Idea works here.

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