The Art of Resistance: Defending Academic Freedom since 1933 | Page 50

Jeremy Deller?British
Battle of Orgreave
2001
Personal copy of
approximately 100
Signed
Re-enactment
12.5 x 19.5 x 2.5 (box
containing 20 photos)
Guide Price £1,500

Jeremy is a celebrated conceptual artist, known
for his politically and socially charged
performances, videos and installations. Born in
London in 1966, he studied art history at the
Courtauld Institute and the University of
Sussex. Collaboration is central to his work:
“That’s what I’m interested in as an artist,
when the spectator becomes the artwork or
becomes a part of an artwork”.
Major works include: Acid Brass (1996) a fusion
of acid house and traditional brass band music;
Folk Archive (1999) a visual depiction of British
folk and popular culture; The Battle of Orgreave
(2001) a public re-enactment of a violent 1984
Miners’ Strike confrontation; Memory Bucket
(2004) a Turner Prize-winning documentary
exploring the state of Texas; The Bat House
Project (2006) a public architectural
competition to design a London bat house; and
It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq (2009)
a travelling exhibition to foster public discussion
on Iraq. In 2013, Jeremy represented Britain at
the 55th Venice Biennale.

“

48

Families were torn apart because of divided loyalties, the union
movement was split on its willingness to support the National Union of
Mineworkers, the print media especially contributed to the polarisation
of the arguments to the point where there appeared to be little space
for a middle ground. So in all but name it became an ideological and
industrial battle between the two sections of British society.
With the help of eight-hundred people, predominantly members of
historical re-enactment societies, we recreated the riots, filmed by
Mike Figgis for a Channel 4 documentary. Many veteran miners and
police wanted to be involved. For me, it was about investigating a
moment of history. There’s also something absurd, or rather impossible
by definition, about re-staging a riot. It isn’t about healing wounds; it is
going to take more than an art project to do that.
This photo album is a personal copy of approximately one hundred
made to thank some of those who supported Artangel. It is the only
work I made from the event.
jeremy deller

”

In 2001, I approached the arts organisation Artangel with an ambitious
project to re-enact the events that took place on 18 June 1984 at the
Yorkshire Orgreave coking plant, one of the most violent clashes
between miners and police during the 1980s miners’ strike. The images
of news reports at the time stuck in my mind and for years I wanted to
find out exactly what had happened on that day with a view to reenacting or commemorating it in some way. The strike, like a civil war,
had a traumatically divisive effect at all levels of life in the UK.

The Art of Resistance? Defending Academic Freedom

Lot 15