“IT IS WHAT IT IS:
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT IRAQ”
March
26, 2009
11:00-6pm
Jefferson Drive SW, between 12th and 14th Streets SW,
on the north side of the street.
Across the street from the Dept. of Agriculture building.
map
The Institute for Policy Studies, in collaboration with Provisions
Library and Street Scenes: Projects for DC, is presenting British artist
Jeremy Deller’s “It Is What It Is; Conversations About Iraq,” at the
National Mall in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2009. The project features a RV
towing the wreck of a car that was blown up by a bomb attack in Iraq.
This project, co-sponsored by Creative Time, was commissioned by the New
Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Chicago, and the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles). The first part of the show was
the installation of the destroyed car at the New Museum, which included
specialists sitting on a sofa discussing the Iraq war. The second part of the
project is a three-week, cross-country road trip, during which an RV tows the
wreck to cities across the US. Riding in the RV are Deller, Jonathan Harvey (an
Iraq war veteran and recently demobilized Psychological Operations platoon
sergeant) and Esam Pasha (an Iraqi refugee, artist, and former translator for
the Chief Advisor in the British Embassy of Baghdad). The RV will visit
Washington DC on Thursday, March 26. It will be on view from 11:00 am to 6:00
pm at the National Mall on Jefferson Drive SW, between 12th and 14th
Streets.
Deller aims to spark a public dialogue with this project. As he said in an
interview with The Art Newspaper,
“To speak with someone who has been in Iraq, has fought there or has
lived under a regime, is fascinating to me. I’m setting up a series of
opportunities for people to meet and their conversations are at the heart of
the project.”
Deller adds,
“I thought it would be interesting to travel in this holiday RV with this
destroyed car on a flatbed lorry behind us.It’s one thing to do something like
this in New York, in a liberal environment, and it’s another to turn up at
truck stop in Mississippi.”
This local iteration of the “It Is What It Is: Conversations about Iraq” has
been made possible by the support of the Institute for Policy Studies,
Provisions Library and Street Scenes: Projects for DC
For information on Street Scenes: Projects for DC: www.streetscenesdc.com
For information on Provisions Library: www.provisionslibrary.org
For information on Institute for Policy Studies: www.ips-dc.org
