Putin's Happy
by Jeremy Deller, United Kingdom 2019, 48'
SHOOTING: 

Jack Cocker, Jeremy Deller, Jared Schiller

  LANGUAGE: VO: English; SUB: Italian
EDITING: 

John McAvoy

  PRODUCER: 

steirischer herbst ’19

     

Schermo dell'Arte - Archivio Film   Presented at Lo schermo dell'arte 2019

 Brexit has split the UK, in parliament and in the streets. Between January and March of 2019 Jeremy Deller, who addressed the topic in 2017 by printing “Fuck Brexit” T-shirts, filmed and interviewed pro- and anti-Brexit subjects near London’s Parliament Square: opposite worlds that coexist practically face-to-face. The artist’s attention is concentrated on those who favor the country’s exit from the European Union, who feel betrayed by the British political class that’s slowing its implementation. Although under different flags, movements, ideas, the pro-Brexiters are united by a conviction that Great Britain is stronger outside Europe. By isolating images and adding captions, Deller deciphers the symbols and interprets the language of the nationalist-style movements that have taken hold of Europe, and the world. Speaking of this latest video work, the artist said: “It’s been described as ‘thoroughly depressing’, which I’ll take as a compliment.”

Jeremy Deller:
 
British artist Jeremy Deller, trained as an art historian, works with video, installation and performance on themes of popular and folk culture. He’s developed an ironic narrative suspended between reality and fiction. He’s interested in the mechanisms on which contemporary societies are structured and in the disparate experiences and relationships of individuals. He makes critical use of the stereotypes spread in society, especially those related to political, economic and religious powers. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2004. Among his solo exhibitions: Sacrilege, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan (2018); English Magic, British Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Joy in People, Hayward Gallery, London (2012); It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq, Creative Time and New Museum, New York, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2009); Procession, Cornerhouse, Manchester (2009); D’une révolution à l’autre. Carte blanche à Jeremy Deller, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2008).

Selected Filmography:
2019 Putin’s Happy 2018 Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992
2014 All That Is Solid Melts Into Air 2013 English Magic 2012 The Bruce Lacey Experience
2006 Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode 2001 The Battle of Orgreave

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