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Jeremy Deller, The Battle of Orgreave (film still), 2001
Commissioned and produced by Artangel
Photography by Martin Jenkinson; courtesy of the artist

VISIT
Jeremy Deller’s three-stop exhibition “Joy in People”

March 23 2012
11:45 AM

Battle of Orgreave (2001), a reenactment of an actual event which occurred during the UK miners’ strike in 1984, is one of the best-remembered Turner Prize winners of the past decade. Its author, Jeremy Deller, is known for reanimating historical events in his critical public interventions. Dwelling in between documentary and fiction, his practice examines the potential role of communal places as citizens’ theaters, their open nature attesting to their inherently political character. Much of Deller’s work is collaborative, ephemeral and directed at devaluating artistic ego through interactive processes. An exhibition organized by Hayward Gallery, London, in association with the WIELS Center of Contemporary Art, Brussels, gathers most of his major works to date in an expansive display of images, movies, installations,banners and sound works. Notably, “Jeremy Deller: Joy in People” presents the reconstitution of Open Bedroom (1993), his first exhibition, initially shown in his parents’ bedroom. Also for the first time, the artist’s unrealized projects are gathered in a section of the exhibition entitled “My Failures.” Next to London and Brussels, the show will have a third stop-off at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, giving a wide audience a chance to explore the work of one of the most generous and pertinent artists of today. (Romain Baro)