The Getting Into the Spirits Cocktail Book from the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion

General Idea

The Getting Into the Spirits Cocktail Book from the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion

Toronto, Canada: Self-published, 1980

64 pp., 4.5 x 10.7 cm., hardcover

Edition of 900 signed, numbered and rubber stamped copies

"The Cocktail Book is a souvenir of the Colour Bar Lounge of the 1984 Pavillion, General Idea’s mythological edifice: “ we think of the Colour Bar Lounge as a sort of cultural laboratory where we can experiment with new cultural mixes and serve them up to you, our friends...an establishment dedicated to the eradication of abstract expressionism and the encouragement of artful research. Although the mass media, like a vast pharmaceutical complex, continue to develop new cultural elixirs of an unprecedented intoxication and manufacture them in consumable form, art remains a curious and elitist drink. Despite its unique flavour and heady cultural properties it has never been effectively injected into the mainstream. Now General Idea is taking the necessary risks to isolate this potent mixture and introduce the infectious mutations into your home. These cocktails are the medium in which a culture is grown and introduced to the host...and everyone is a host at the Colour Bar Lounge!”

— General Idea