News The late artist’s submissions to General Idea in the 1970s are the subject of a focused exhibition at Art Metropole in Toronto.

April 20, 2026 — 4 min read

Genesis P-Orridge. “Untitled (Tree of Life 28) ” (1975) (image courtesy New Discretions)

From the early 1970s to the late ’80s, the unconventional Canadian artist collective General Idea facilitated an international network of correspondence art through FILE Magazine , a self-published periodical comprised of guest submissions. The collective received piles of entries from Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, the late transgressive visual and performance artist whose explicit, multidisciplinary practice raised hackles around the United Kingdom and worldwide.

A selection of P-Orridge's mail art from approximately half a century ago has now emerged from the National Gallery of Canada's (NGC) collection for a focused exhibition at Art Metropole in Toronto, marking its brief return to the space General Idea founded in 1974.…