Essay 3

Michael Lefko
November 4, 2007
The Battle Relived

Humans are driven by conflict. Evolution dictated the human race as the dominant class on Earth because the violent nature of humanity enables it to survive. Today, people are fascinated by violence. The original love of war occurred due to the personification of it as the end result of an intense struggle. The reason sports are so popular is that the audience is enthralled by the conflict. The love of violence is an innate concept that all humans have. It is why many are drawn to movies with violence or ones that depict war. An entire way of life has even begun to appeal to the needs of the extreme consumers of violence. Combining history and violence, war reenactments have become a popular medium. Thousands take place each year, with participants dressing up as soldiers from both sides of a battle. They then proceed to stage the conflict. These reenactments are one of the best ways to recount the experiences of a particular event. Much research is undertaken to ensure an accurate representation. Because a reenactment utilizes many people in order for it to take place, it could be considered a work of dialogic art. Artist Jeremy Deller arrived at the same conclusion and his project, a reenactment of a strike in England, relies on the people to produce the artwork. Deller chose a reenactment of the strike because it enables a large number of people to partake in the creation of the work. Since the people are creating as well as participating in the artwork, the line between artist and a detached population is blurred. Rather, the community becomes involved and thus Deller’s work is the paradigm of works defined as new genre public art.
The term new genre public art is essentially defined as dialogic art that involves the community to actually create the piece. Similarly, the public art should elucidate a social injustice that has occurred in the community. Jeremy Deller’s piece is titled The Battle of Orgreave. The actual conflict occurred in 1984 between picketing miners and police. The struggle at Orgreave was part of a larger struggle between the coal mining industry and the British government. The head of the British government classified the miners as the enemy; “Margaret Thatcher’s classification of the strike as ‘mob violence’ and her branding of the miners as the ‘enemy within’ added a sense of menace to the dispute and acted as a way of ‘othering’ the miners from the majority of the country” (Correia, 95). Many that have analyzed the battle have come to the conclusion that all forces of the state were acting in conjunction to subdue the efforts of the strike; “‘Ms. Thatcher deployed the full resources of the state; the army, the police, the media, against the miners and made it into a civil war’” (Correia, 96). Deller’s interest in the project stemmed from the fact that the media had unjustly displayed coverage of the strike. Actual recounts of the events were mixed but there were allegations of police brutality from the miners; “A brutal display of police force and organization that signaled a role for the police that went beyond the maintenance of law and order” (Beech, 1). Deller was influenced by the battle and the notion that the police had violated the rights of the miners; “Thousands of men were chased up a field by mounted police. It seemed a civil war between the north and south of the country was taking place in all but name. The image of this pursuit up the hill stuck in my mind, and for years I have wanted to find out what exactly happened on that day with a view to reenacting or commemorating it in some way” (Deller, 146-147). Therefore, Deller began his project and extensively researched the battle and the events surrounding it so that he could present the true view of what occurred on that day.
A study compiled by the Broadcasting Research Unit found that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) presented the skirmish with a favorable light towards the police by using words and images that cast the miners in the role of violent aggressor; “While the BBC juxtaposed images of pickets assaulting policemen with words such as ‘battle’, ‘violence’, and ‘battlefield’…However, both channels presented footage of the mounted police cantering into the pickets as occurring after an escalation of picket violence” (Correia, 96). The controversial aspect of this is that eyewitness accounts of the conflict stated that the police charged the miners before any major escalation of violence on the part of the miners. With conflicting reports, Deller’s reason for the reenactment was to rectify the misconception of the miners as being in the wrong. In this sense, Deller’s art is new genre public art, because it attempts to restore the tarnished image of the miners.
Deller did the reenactment using many of the former miners as well as some former policemen that were in the actual conflict. By using actual persons involved in the conflict, Deller sought to illustrate the truth about the violence during the battle. The people that actually partook in the event further establishes the project as new genre public art. The miners and policemen were actually in the battle so they could help in the physical layout of the reenactment, as well as giving it more authenticity because they know where each individual event occurred. Thus, the active participation of the members makes them producers as well as consumers of the work.
Because the miners, the ones that were slighted during the media presentation of the strike, are actively involved in the making of the art, it is difficult to piece together who exactly is the intended audience of the piece. Nevertheless, Deller’s intent in creating the work was to present the view of the miners. Therefore the appeal is to the families of the miners and those that were slighted by the negative press generated against the strike; “By mentioning families and the print media and making references to the status of heavy industry and the conflict between political ideologies, Deller emphasized the breadth of the social and political issues in play” (Correia, 97). The impact of the miners’ strike affected not only the miners, but their families and the community. Pretty much all of mainstream society was against the workers, therefore it cost them their jobs. Because of this, some even lost their homes and in extreme situations, the stress of unemployment and homelessness forced families apart; “Many mining villages had to cope with the long-lasting effects of male unemployment, the dereliction of industrial buildings, a rise in petty crime, substance abuse and the collapse of community cohesion” (Correia, 100). Therefore, Deller undertook the project in order to present the miners in a better light, and to quash preconceived notions of the miners as lawless men. Similarly, since the reenactment is a work of dialogical art, and the essential part of dialogic art is to promote discussion, the audience can also be seen as the policemen and miners that were a part of the real conflict. Now that the miners and policemen were reunited in a stress free situation with no political agenda, they facilitating of conversation would have been easier to accomplish.
The actual reenactment took place in Orgreave, quite near the original rioting. Everything was kept in exact order of how it was in 1984, even down to the dress and speech of the people. During the fighting sequence the actors were told to engage in shoving and storming of the police lines. Deller said at times the reenactment even came close to turning to real violence due to the fact that former miners and policemen were participating in the reenactment (Correia, 100). Since the details of the reenactment were down to the last detail and veterans were used, it is easy to see how some emotions could have run high. Yet, it was in the best interests of the actors to get their feelings out of the way. In reality, a cathartic effect probably emerged, a cleansing of the built up negative feelings that the workers had towards the men on the other side of the shields. Within the setting of the reenactment, the situation that had caused such tension during the actual conflict was removed and the men would have been able to discuss their feelings to alleviate some of the bad memories from the original encounter. The positive effects that could occur can be seen in a similar example that occurred in Oakland, California. In a work titled Code 33 police and young people of color came together in order to try and increase understanding between the two, in a relationship that is often marked by violence and misunderstandings due to pre-existing stereotypes (Kester, 183). The project brought the two groups together in a series of extended conversations so that the police and youths might be more understanding of each other. In this sense Deller’s project has much of the same intentions as the work in California. Although the original intention of Deller was simply to re-create this historical event in order to present a fair side of the story, the end result became much more. By taking part in the reenactment and working side by side the mine workers and police officers were able to discuss and put to rest any lasting feelings of negativity that might have remained from the conflict.
The reenactment by Deller is above all a work of art. As a result, art is subject to criticism. Deller’s work is no exception. There have been critiques of Deller’s reenactment that point to the fact that his portrayal does not show the hardships other mine workers faced. Other criticism revolves around the fact that Deller puts too much emphasis on the side of the miners. Critics state that his work is too leftist and in fact does what the television networks did in terms of a slanted portrayal to one side, but on the side of the miners. Nevertheless, this criticism is unfounded. From the start, Deller stated that the purpose of his artwork was to portray the side of the miners. Similarly, it would not be a good piece of dialogical art if it did not challenge conventional opinion.
Jeremy Deller’s The Battle of Orgreave is a work of dialogical and new genre public art because it relies on the community to not only participate in the artwork, but also to have a hand in shaping the production of the piece. The reenactment of the battle enabled the miners to have a voice in what happened to them on that day. Similarly, it facilitated conversation amongst the policemen and the men on strike that allowed for cathartic release of any remaining hostility. Yet, Deller’s piece had even farther reaching implications. Deller’s work opens up a Pandora’s Box of consequences regarding the media and the truth; “Orgreave raised questions over the reliability of images, over who has control over the presentation of historic events and over how the past is remembered” (Correia, 110). Therefore, a completely different discussion can be raised over government and their control of the media. Deller’s work as a whole takes on the role of promoting the common man and in the events surrounding the battle; his piece is often seen as a protest against the government. Regardless of interpretation, Jeremy Deller created an exemplary piece of dialogic art that enabled a community to come to terms with the strike and the members involved to finally get closure. A paradigm of new public art, The Battle of Orgreave enabled policemen and miners, once faced off against each other, to break down a barrier and stand side by side in unity.