General Idea was a Canadian collective comprising Felix Partz (1945-1994), Jorge Zontal (1944-1994) and AA Bronson (1946). It was founded in the late 1960s when the mass media was becoming increasingly influential and was blurring the line between the authentic art object and the reproduction. The collective employed subversive strategies. From 1986 the group focussed on highlighting issues around the AIDS epidemic. For example, they adapted Robert Indiana’s famous ‘LOVE’ symbol to create an ‘AIDS’ logo. In this installation, De Stijl functions as a cry for help. The primary colour yellow in Mondrian’s and Rietveld’s famous works is infected by the virus, making it green. The three chairs represent the members of General Idea, two of whom died from AIDS-related illnesses.