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INTRODUCTION: IT IS WHAT IT IS
In 2009 Turner prize-winning British artist Jeremy Deller debuted his
second major piece in the United States which addressed U.S. perspectives on a
tendentious contemporary topic. It Is What It Is: Conversation’s About Iraq
promoted open dialogue about Iraq’s history and culture through person-to-person
conversations at three major U.S. museums and a number of public sites across
North America.1 Carefully selected collaborators with intimate knowledge and
experience of present day Iraq addressed a public immersed in conflicting
information and knowledge regarding how the conflict started and why it was
being maintained.
Eighteen institutions and multiple individuals came together to assist
Deller implement It Is What It Is.2 A thorough examination of the work’s
methodology reveals the extensive apparatus through which it was produced.
This apparatus became a focal point with broader implications than the underlying
political agenda and purported intent to disseminate information about Iraq.
Undoubtedly the political content of the work and the artist’s intended purpose –
to discuss Iraqi art and culture – were the central focus of its presentations. This
thesis contends that as the work becomes more thoroughly historicized, its social
practice tactics and production apparatus will come to define it as a work of
contemporary art rather than its subject matter.
1 Each of these “experts,” as they were called- came from unique areas of study like geology,
history, art, science, sociology and business.
2 This figure includes: three museums, one public arts organization, thirteen host institutions, and
one Dutch gallery.
Object Description
| Title | Sites of production: An examination of Jeremy Deller's It is what it is: Conversations about Iraq |
| Author | Kopp, Rebecca Nichole |
| Author email | rkopp@usc.edu; rnkopp@gmail.com |
| Degree | Master of Public Art Studies |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Public Art Studies |
| School | School of Fine Arts |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-05 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-05-04 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Holte, Michael Ned |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Jacob, Mary Jane Decter, Joshua |
| Abstract | For little over a decade artistic practice in the United States has become intently “focused upon on the sphere of inter-human relations” (Nicolas Bourriaud). Contemporary theorists have presented a variety of ideas concerning the resurgence of this artistic tendency that emerged half a century ago. Using It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq, which was presented across the U.S. and at three major museums in 2009 by British Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, as case study to further delineate this artistic form of expression, this thesis addresses recent theoretical developments within the broader social practice movement. Deller’s project emphasized the complicated nature of these theories in action within the contemporary moment, and testified to its heightened use in the public sphere through shifts higher education and institutional programming. The evaluation of Deller’s piece emphasizes the art-historical importance of this work and more broadly contends with the contemporary conflict between those who debate art’s ability to transform consciousness within the public sphere. |
| Keyword | social practice; Jeremy Deller; Iraq; dialogical practice; public sphere; public art |
| Geographic subject (country) | Iraq; USA |
| Coverage date | 2000/2010 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3881 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Kopp, Rebecca Nichole |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Kopp-4545 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Kopp-4545.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 6 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 1 INTRODUCTION: IT IS WHAT IT IS In 2009 Turner prize-winning British artist Jeremy Deller debuted his second major piece in the United States which addressed U.S. perspectives on a tendentious contemporary topic. It Is What It Is: Conversation’s About Iraq promoted open dialogue about Iraq’s history and culture through person-to-person conversations at three major U.S. museums and a number of public sites across North America.1 Carefully selected collaborators with intimate knowledge and experience of present day Iraq addressed a public immersed in conflicting information and knowledge regarding how the conflict started and why it was being maintained. Eighteen institutions and multiple individuals came together to assist Deller implement It Is What It Is.2 A thorough examination of the work’s methodology reveals the extensive apparatus through which it was produced. This apparatus became a focal point with broader implications than the underlying political agenda and purported intent to disseminate information about Iraq. Undoubtedly the political content of the work and the artist’s intended purpose – to discuss Iraqi art and culture – were the central focus of its presentations. This thesis contends that as the work becomes more thoroughly historicized, its social practice tactics and production apparatus will come to define it as a work of contemporary art rather than its subject matter. 1 Each of these “experts,” as they were called- came from unique areas of study like geology, history, art, science, sociology and business. 2 This figure includes: three museums, one public arts organization, thirteen host institutions, and one Dutch gallery. |
