The 2023 Ringier Annual Report
Since 1998, Ringier, the Swiss-based global media company, has traditionally commissioned an artist to design its annual report. Publisher Michael Ringier and curator Beatrix Ruf initiated this series as a means of reinforcing the links between art and the activities of the company.
For the 2023 edition published in 2024, the invitation was given to artist AA Bronson/General Idea. The publication takes the form of an administrative cardboard folder or binder whose design evokes the founding “Showcard Series” created by General Idea in 1975–1979. Unfolding the three-part cover, an artist book, a notepad containing Ringier’s facts & figures, and an embossed mirror sheet to reflect in (aka the context) are revealed.
Partly printed on transparent and mirror-like papers, the artist’s book appropriates a 1972 cover of FILE Megazine—the magazine General Idea ran from 1972 to 1989. It brings together images and works of mirrors and reflection dated 1972—2024, connecting the history of General Idea with that of AA Bronson. “I have often been confused by the subject of identity. Not only do I carry two identities—as AA Bronson but also as the more prosaic Michael Tims—but I also carry the identity of the group General Idea, I carry my partners Jorge and Felix, both deceased, on my back,” says the artist.
In the special edition of the 2024 Ringier Annual Report, Ringier’s facts & figures are replaced by a pad of tear-off sheets, repeating a text and photograph from General Idea: Jorge Zontal with his arms wrapped around his head, both held and holding. The photograph originates from the collective’s open call mail art project MANIPULATING THE SELF (Phase 1–A Borderline Case) that began in 1970. As a modern re-edition of this project, the reader is invited to re-perform the described pose and post the images using defined hashtags.
The publication also features a conversation between AA Bronson and Beatrix Ruf.
Conceived by AA Bronson in close collaboration with designer Garrick Gott, this special edition of the 2023 Ringier Annual Report is limited to 200 copies. Each copy is signed and numbered.
Canadian collective General Idea was founded in Toronto in 1969 by Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal, and AA Bronson, and active until the death of Partz and Zontal in 1994. JRP|Editions has published many books on General Idea, including a recent compendious overview of their practice released on the occasion of their touring exhibition in Ontario, Amsterdam, and Berlin in 2022–2023.
Published with Ringier Collection; limited edition.
