The installation Fin de siècle represents General Idea’s poignant commentary on those struck by the AIDS pandemic. This deeply charged work is also one of the last self-portraits the trio created in their twenty-five-year collaboration. The work was featured in the group’s 1992–93 touring exhibition of the same name. Fin de siècle is an acutely moving work. Viewers are meant to question the placement of the seal pups—are they playful and cute, or are they a prelude to disaster? It is unclear what fate they will encounter. Here the innocent nature of the seals, as well as their status as an endangered species, emphasizes that some lives are more valuable than others. “It’s easier to sell ‘save the seals,’ or ‘save the children with AIDS,’” Zontal maintained, “because they’re cuter, rather than three middle-aged homosexuals.”