Jeremy Deller
Encyclopedia
Jeremy Deller is an English
conceptual
, video
and installation
artist
. He is a Turner Prize
winner.
Deller is best-known for his Battle of Orgreave (2001) , a reenactment of the actual Battle of Orgreave
which occurred during the UK miners' strike in 1984.
, educated at Dulwich College
, Courtauld Institute of Art
(University of London
); did his MA in Art History
at University of Sussex
under David Alan Mellor
.
In 1995, Deller exhibited at EASTinternational
which was selected by Marian Goodman and Giuseppe Penone
. He was invited to select EASTinternational in 2006 with Dirk Snauwaert.
In 1997, Deller embarked on Acid Brass
, a musical collaboration with the Williams Fairey Brass Band from Stockport
. The project was based on fusing the music of a traditional brass band
with acid house
and Detroit techno
.
For the opening of Manifesta
5, the roving European Biennial of Contemporary art Deller organized a Social Parade, in 2004, through the streets of the city of Donostia-San Sebastian. Drafting in cadres of local alternative societies and support groups, to participate.
Deller was winner of the Turner Prize
in 2004. His show at Tate Britain
included documentation on Battle of Orgreave and an installation Memory Bucket (2003), a documentary about Crawford, Texas
– the hometown of George W. Bush
– and the siege in nearby Waco
.
In 2006, he was involved in a touring exhibit of contemporary British folk art, in collaboration with Alan Kane. In late 2006, he instigated The Bat House Project, an architectural competition open to the public for a bat house on the outskirts of London.
Much of Deller's work is collaborative. His work has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the devaluation of artistic ego through the involvement of other people in the creative process. Folk Archive is a tour of "people's art", outside of the contemporary art institution. Much of his work is ephemeral in nature and avoids commodification.
In 2007, Deller was appointed a Trustee of the Tate Gallery
.
In 2008, 'The Posters Came from the Walls', a documentary co-directed with Nick Abrahams about Depeche Mode
fans around the world was premiered at the London Film Festival, and followed by festival screenings around the world.
In 2009, Deller created Procession, a free and uniquely Mancunian parade through the center of Manchester
along Deansgate
, a co-commission between Manchester International Festival
and Cornerhouse
. Procession worked with diverse groups of people drawn from the 10 boroughs of Manchester
and took place on Sunday 5 July at 14:00.
Commissioned in 2009 as part of The Three M Project (a group composed of the New Museum, New York; the Hammer Museum
, LA; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
, to exhibit and commission new works of art), Deller created It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq. The project was designed to foster public discussion by having guest experts engage museum visitors in a free-form, unscripted dialogue about issue concerning Iraq
.
On 1 October 2010, in an open letter to the British Government's culture secretary Jeremy Hunt—co-signed by 28 former Turner prize nominees, and 18 winners—Deller opposed any future cuts in public funding for the arts. In the letter the cosignatories described the arts in Britain as a "remarkable and fertile landscape of culture and creativity."
In 2010, he was awarded the Albert Medal of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA) for 'creating art that encourages public responses and creativity'.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
conceptual
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
, video
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
and installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. He is a Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
winner.
Deller is best-known for his Battle of Orgreave (2001) , a reenactment of the actual Battle of Orgreave
Battle of Orgreave
The Battle of Orgreave is the name given to a confrontation between police and picketing miners at a British Steel coking plant in Orgreave, South Yorkshire, in 1984, during the UK miners' strike...
which occurred during the UK miners' strike in 1984.
Life and work
Jeremy Deller was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, educated at Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
, Courtauld Institute of Art
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top...
(University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
); did his MA in Art History
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
at University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
under David Alan Mellor
David Alan Mellor
David Alan Mellor is a British curator and professor of and writer on art.David Mellor — as he was called before he wanted to avoid confusion with the politician of the same name — studied art at Sussex University under Quentin Bell...
.
In 1995, Deller exhibited at EASTinternational
EASTinternational
EASTinternational is an open submission exhibition that was launched in 1991 and takes place at the Norwich University College of the Arts. Applications from over 1,000 contemporary artists are received each year with approximately 25-30 artists selected to exhibit...
which was selected by Marian Goodman and Giuseppe Penone
Giuseppe Penone
Giuseppe Penone is an Italian artist. Penone started working professionally in 1968 in the Garessio forest, near where he was born. He is the younger member of the Italian movement named "Arte Povera", this term has been coined by Germano Celant. Penone's work is concerned with establishing a...
. He was invited to select EASTinternational in 2006 with Dirk Snauwaert.
In 1997, Deller embarked on Acid Brass
Acid Brass
Acid Brass was a musical collaboration between Turner-Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and the Williams Fairey Brass Band. The project was based on fusing the music of a traditional brass band with acid house and Detroit techno....
, a musical collaboration with the Williams Fairey Brass Band from Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
. The project was based on fusing the music of a traditional brass band
Brass band (British style)
A British-style brass band is a musical ensemble comprising a standardised range of brass and percussion instruments. The modern form of the brass band in the United Kingdom dates back to the 19th century, with a vibrant tradition of competition based around local industry and communities...
with acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
and Detroit techno
Detroit techno
Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in the 1980s. Detroit, Michigan has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson...
.
For the opening of Manifesta
Manifesta
Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...
5, the roving European Biennial of Contemporary art Deller organized a Social Parade, in 2004, through the streets of the city of Donostia-San Sebastian. Drafting in cadres of local alternative societies and support groups, to participate.
Deller was winner of the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
in 2004. His show at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
included documentation on Battle of Orgreave and an installation Memory Bucket (2003), a documentary about Crawford, Texas
Crawford, Texas
Crawford is a town located in western McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is best known as the home of former President of the United States George W. Bush. He currently resides at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, which is located just outside Crawford, Texas....
– the hometown of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
– and the siege in nearby Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
.
In 2006, he was involved in a touring exhibit of contemporary British folk art, in collaboration with Alan Kane. In late 2006, he instigated The Bat House Project, an architectural competition open to the public for a bat house on the outskirts of London.
Much of Deller's work is collaborative. His work has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the devaluation of artistic ego through the involvement of other people in the creative process. Folk Archive is a tour of "people's art", outside of the contemporary art institution. Much of his work is ephemeral in nature and avoids commodification.
In 2007, Deller was appointed a Trustee of the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
.
In 2008, 'The Posters Came from the Walls', a documentary co-directed with Nick Abrahams about Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
fans around the world was premiered at the London Film Festival, and followed by festival screenings around the world.
In 2009, Deller created Procession, a free and uniquely Mancunian parade through the center of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
along Deansgate
Deansgate
Deansgate is a main road through the city centre of Manchester, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile long....
, a co-commission between Manchester International Festival
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
and Cornerhouse
Cornerhouse
Cornerhouse is a centre for cinema and the contemporary visual arts located very close to Oxford Road Station, on Oxford Street in Manchester, England...
. Procession worked with diverse groups of people drawn from the 10 boroughs of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and took place on Sunday 5 July at 14:00.
Commissioned in 2009 as part of The Three M Project (a group composed of the New Museum, New York; the Hammer Museum
Hammer Museum
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center, or the Hammer Museum as it is more commonly known, is an art museum in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California...
, LA; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
, to exhibit and commission new works of art), Deller created It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq. The project was designed to foster public discussion by having guest experts engage museum visitors in a free-form, unscripted dialogue about issue concerning Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
On 1 October 2010, in an open letter to the British Government's culture secretary Jeremy Hunt—co-signed by 28 former Turner prize nominees, and 18 winners—Deller opposed any future cuts in public funding for the arts. In the letter the cosignatories described the arts in Britain as a "remarkable and fertile landscape of culture and creativity."
In 2010, he was awarded the Albert Medal of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA) for 'creating art that encourages public responses and creativity'.
External links
- Jeremy Deller site
- Bat House Project site
- Turner Prize 2004: Jeremy Deller
- Watch The Battle of Orgreave on FourDocs
- Turner Prize 2004 – BBC News
- Artforum review (01/2002)
- zingmagazine review (1996)
- Interview
- (fr) Article sur son exposition au Palais de Tokyo, Art and You
- It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq
- The Battle of Orgreave section on Artangel website
- http://theposterscamefromthewalls.com/