Jeremy Deller Contemporary British artist and curator Country: Great Britain

1. Jeremy Deller: A Modern British Artist and Curator
2. Exploring Periphery and Forgotten Histories
3. Investigating British Cultural and Political Heritage
4. It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq

Jeremy Deller: A Modern British Artist and Curator

Jeremy Deller is a contemporary British artist and curator known for his collaborative and participatory approach to art. He studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art and has since been involved in a wide range of projects as a curator, producer, or director.

Exploring Periphery and Forgotten Histories

Deller's work often focuses on peripheral forms of culture or lesser-known histories. One of his most well-known works is the film "The Battle of Orgreave," created in collaboration with director Mike Figgis. The film depicts the confrontation between police and miners in Orgreave during the 1984-1985 miners' strike in the UK. Deller worked with participants of the actual events to reconstruct the scenes, offering a new perspective on the events that were distorted by the media. This collaboration resulted in a film, book, and audio recording.

Deller's projects also aim to explore the cultural landscape of specific places. In "A Social Parade," he brought together diverse social groups in San Sebastian, Spain, to participate in a parade on the city's central boulevard. His film "Memory Bucket" takes a documentary approach to examine Texas, focusing on two locations: the Branch Davidian cult farm in Waco and the hometown of President Bush in Crawford. Archive footage is combined with interviews, juxtaposing official reports with personal narratives.

Investigating British Cultural and Political Heritage

Deller consistently explores the cultural and political heritage of Britain. In his series of photographs, he commissioned various memorial markers associated with key figures and events in recent history. This includes an "official" bench next to Brian Epstein's house in Belgravia, the manager of The Beatles, and a road sign in memory of a cyclist's death.

In 2004, Jeremy Deller received the Turner Prize for his film "Memory Bucket," which further solidified his reputation as a groundbreaking artist. Each year, Palais de Tokyo in Paris invites an artist to serve as a curator and develop an original project. In 2008, Deller curated the exhibition "From one revolution to another," exploring the relationship between industrial and cultural revolutions. This exhibition delves into the space of possible connections, spanning from the industrial revolution to the emergence of glam rock in England, from electronic music in the Soviet Union to the rise of rock in France, and featuring Ed Hall's union flags.

It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq

One of Deller's recent projects is the traveling exhibition "It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq" (2009), which encourages public discussions about the history, current conditions, and future of Iraq. Experts and witnesses were present in the exhibition space daily to initiate dialogue with museum visitors. The conversations aimed to be politically neutral, ranging from formal to informal, based on each individual's preference. Objects related to Iraq were displayed alongside the experts, with the most notable being the remains of a car destroyed by a bomb explosion on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad in March 2007.