In celebration of the National Gallery’s 200th anniversary, join us for The Triumph of Art, the culmination of a series of commissioned artworks by Deller around the UK.
The day begins on Whitehall with a procession celebrating a long history of creativity, leading to festivities on Trafalgar Square. Expect music, making, strong people and a Hogarthian Rave by Deller’s collaborator, choreographer Grace Nicol and students from London Contemporary Dance School.
In Deller’s words, this will be
“Bruegel meets the Simpsons (if we’re lucky.)”
Jeremy Deller and Grace Nicol invite you to a Hogarthian Rave as part of The National Gallery’s The Triumph of Art
The giant party takes place in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, 26th July 11am-4pm
Join the procession on Whitehall from King Charles Street at 11am
All welcome, no RSVP required.
Developed in partnership with The Playhouse, Derry-Londonderry, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, and The Box, Plymouth.
About the artists
Jeremy Deller (b. 1966, London) studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute and at Sussex University. He began making artworks in the early 1990s, often showing them outside conventional galleries. In 1993, while his parents were on holiday, he secretly used the family home for an exhibition titled Open Bedroom.
Four years later he produced the musical performance Acid Brass with the Williams-Fairey Band and began making art in collaboration with other people. In 2000, with fellow artist Alan Kane, Deller began a collection of items that illustrate the passions and pastimes of people from across Britain and the social classes. Treading a fine line between art and anthropology, Folk Archive is a collection of objects which touch on diverse subjects such as Morris Dancing, gurning competitions, and political demonstrations. The Folk Archive became part of the British Council Collection in 2007 and has since toured to Shanghai, Paris and Milan.
In 2001 Deller staged The Battle of Orgreave, commissioned by Artangel and Channel 4, directed by Mike Figgis. The work involved a re-enactment which brought together around 1,000 veteran miners and members of historical societies to restage the 1984 clash between miners and police in Orgreave, Yorkshire. In 2004, Deller won the Turner Prize for Memory Bucket (2003), a documentary about Texas. He has since made several documentaries on subjects ranging from the exotic wrestler Adrian Street to the die-hard international fan base of the band Depeche Mode.
In 2009 Deller undertook a road trip across the US, from New York to Los Angeles, towing a car destroyed in a bomb attack in Baghdad and accompanied by an Iraqi citizen and a US war veteran. The project, It Is What It Is, was presented at Creative Time and the New Museum, New York and the car is now part of the Imperial War Museum’s collection. In the same year he staged Procession, in Manchester, involving participants, commissioned floats, choreographed music and performances creating an odd and celebratory spectacle. During the summer of 2012 Sacrilege, Deller’s life-size inflatable version of Stonehenge – a co-commission between Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and the Mayor of London – toured around the UK to great public acclaim.
In 2013 Deller represented Britain at the Venice Biennale with a multi-faceted exhibition titled, English Magic. Encompassing notions of good and bad magic, socialism, war, popular culture, archaeology and tea, the exhibition gave a view of the UK that was both combative and affectionate. His First World War memorial work – We’re Here Because We’re Here (2016) and the documentary Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984–1992 (2019), have influenced the conventional map of contemporary art. Most recently Deller has published Art is Magic, a book that documents key works in his career alongside the art, pop music, film, politics and history that have inspired him.
Grace Nicol is a choreographer, movement director, curator, and facilitator based in London. Grace’s choreographic work has toured nationally and internationally. Among others, Grace has worked with London College of Fashion, Hackney Showroom, ]Performance Space[, NN Contemporary, Tate Modern, V&A Museum, Guest Projects. Grace also works as a choreographer and movement director for commercial projects in film, fashion and music, including the BBC, NTS, Lauren Faith, Chivas Regal, i-D x Christian Louboutin, Sinead O’Dwyer and with actors including Alex Lawther and Roman Griffin Davis.
Grace is a visiting lecturer at London Contemporary Dance School (on the BA and MA Dance: Performance programmes) and provides mentoring, one-off talks and lectures for other institutions (incl. Roehampton University, AMATA, University of Suffolk, Kickstarter Company at Dance East, Ma Programme at ArtEZ, V&A, Fabric).
Grace has been developing new ways of working and advocates for practicing care within choreographic working methods. She has co-founded the Pastoral Care Offer scheme with artist Temitope Ajose, created a Public Dance pack which looks to aid dance artists and venues when collaborating and co-founded Understory with Theo Clinkard.
Grace has been interviewed for and featured in various media publications including Vogue USA, Arts Professional, Hunger, Dazed, i-D, Girls Are Awesome, and It’s Nice That.
She has been a recipient of a Stockholm Fringe Award, a BBCF award, a Choreographers Gallery Award, the Major of London Culture Seed Fund and receives support from Arts Council England.
The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Bellini, Cézanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. The Gallery’s key objectives are to enhance the collection, care for the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. Admission free.
More information and book tickets for events at nationalgallery.org.uk
