Art Metropole

11 Feb. 2002

Bell Canada Award in Video Art

“Ottawa, 15 January 2002 – The Canada Council for the Arts and Bell Canada are pleased to announce that the 2001 Bell Canada Award for outstanding achievement in video art will be presented to the artists’ collective General Idea (AA Bronson, the late Felix Partz and the late Jorge Zontal), on Monday, February 11, 2002, in a ceremony at Art Metropole, the artist-run centre founded by General Idea at 788 King Street West, Toronto.” -excerpt from the Canada Council press release of January 15, 2002.

Images

1: Some former winners gather with the presenters: from left to right Kim Tomczak, Vera Frenkel, Lisa Steele, AA Bronson, Riki Turofsky, and Alain Gourd.
2: AA Bronson reminisces about how General Idea began their involvement with video in 1970, and also about Jorge Zontal's television habits in the good old days, his obsession with talk shows, game shows, and other purely TV formats.
3: The Bell Canada Award in Video Art was presented to AA Bronson for General Idea by Riki Turofsky, member of the board of the Canada Council for the Arts, and Alain Gourd, Group Executive Vice-President, Corporate, Bell Globemedia.
4: Luis Jacob unveils his brilliant hair at the star-studded event. Other celebrities present included film-maker John Greyson, Andrew Zealley of Greek Buck, art dealers Susan Hobbs and Paul Petro, emerging superstar James Carl, curator-on-the-go Jessica Bradley, and the first two Miss General IdeasMimi Paige (1968) and Honey Novick (1969).
5: AA Bronson nervously awaits showtime at the Bell Canada event. On the screen is General Idea's video "The Sequel: Shut the Fuck Up", consisting of 30 minutes of colour test pattern and a simulacrum of Yves Klein's Monotone Symphony, reconstituted from clips from theearly sixties film Mondo Cane. Most viewers were unaware that the video had yet begun.