Jeremy Deller Curates All That is Solid Melts Into Air

The effect of the Industrial Revolution on the British landscape and economy is well known but its impact on the consciousness and culture of the people is less clear. In All That is Solid Melts Into Air Jeremy Deller explores the roots of working class musical culture, from 19th century industrial folk to glam and heavy rock music in the 70s and 80s. The exhibition will combine contemporary works with a vast range of objects and images, from historical paintings depicting factories and forges to oppositional broadsheets, political tracts, poems and popular ballads against exploitation, including works by William Blake and William Morris. Accompanied by an integrated programme of events, performances, discussions, talks and screenings, Deller approaches this wealth of material like a social cartographer tracing neglected ley lines of cultural history. The exhibition is an opportunity to engage directly with the artist on a project that will evolve and change as it progresses.  It will include new work by him along with banners and murals specially commissioned for each showing.

Tour

Manchester Art Gallery
12 October 2013 - 19 January 2014

Nottingham Castle, Nottingham
31 January - 22 April 2014

Mead Gallery, University of Warwick
May - June 2014

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
Dates tbc

Image credit:

Adrian Street and his father, 1973 (photo: Dennis Hutchinson) ©Dennis Hutchinson 2012.