Elke Town
«Test Tube. General Idea»

[Excerpt]

[...] SCENE 1A

[...]

AA: More and more artists are turning to popular media in an effort to examine the effectiveness of their work, not only in an attempt to reach a larger audience, but also to obtain access to the immediacy of newspapers, magazines, rock'n roll, and of course television. We think of television as our test tube, not only to test market the Colour Bar Lounge, but also to test out new formulae for making art consumable.

Felix: The mass media are like a vast pharmaceutical complex, developing new cultural elixirs of an unprecedented intoxication. Look at music, psychology, sociology. They've all been electronically manufactured into consumable form. But art remains a curious and elitist drink. Despite its unique flavour and heady cuttural properties, it has never been effectively exploited. Now General Idea has taken the necessary risks to isolate this potent culture and introduce the infectious mutations into the mainstream.
Jorge: [...] with this television show we try to inject into the mainstream of popular culture these germs of art discourse.

AA: And where can we find more information on our culture than on TV?
[...]


Scene 2A
[...]
Felix: TV, for instance, can impose anything it wants on the public.

Jorge: That's a rather fascist view of television, isn't it? I mean ...

Felix: Well, that's what everyone says, television is the great dictator. No matter how many channels there are, there's no choice. Sit-coms, born-again-TV, game shows, the news: they're all geared towards a consumption of repressive role models. The only thing that sort of social control needs is consumers – and it's got 'em!

AA: Come on, Felix, that conspiracy rant is so popular it should be on television. There's public access programs, there's community television, there´s ethnic television, there´s even artists’ television. We all know there´s airtime for anyone who wants it.

Jorge: And besides, if a network had overly fascist content, it would be a hot news story for the other networks.

Felix: But it's not the content of the programming, it's the format. lt formats us as well as the program.

Jorge: What format is this program in then?

Felix: It's the I-can't-believe-its-a-format-format! We're using a combination of talk shows, sit-coms, news magazines, and commercials. And why? To put our content into a consumabie context.

Jorge: So is this television parody, or are we still making art? Would you rather be weicomed into the cozy tiving rooms of the nation, or painting away in your unheated garret.
[...]
Her: Everything is suddenly happening again, don't you think? The Seventies were so dull, but the Eighties are shaking everything up.

Source: Excerpts from «Test Tube.General Idea», in: Elke Town (ed.), Video by the Artits 2, Toronto 1986, p. 59–64