After looking at the reenactment artwork titled ‘Battle of Orgreave’ I initially judged the piece to be an uncomfortable exploration of a political protest. The photos show gangs of white males in badge-decorated denim, holding banners alongside photos of physical altercations. Having watched the documentary and the reenactment i realised i misjudged the piece, probably because my interpretation has been swayed by recent news events. However, recent news events involving police brutality have led me to think about the piece in a new light. In 36 years, many of the issues raised by the protesters are still relevant today regardless of their race or gender. What they campaigned for in 1984 were matters of equality, class, and politics. Even as recent as a month ago, though under very different circumstances, these issues are still being protested. In that respect i very much enjoyed exploring this work and loved this retelling of a historical moment in such a dimensional and interactive way.
The Tate holds the paraphernalia from both the original event and the replication, paraphernalia ranging from photographs, items of clothing and slogan adorned stickers and badges from each of the encounters. It really shows the attention to detail in the reenactment and how the piece was layered with undecorated truths.
I think this is why Deller chose to create a reenactment. Because this method of recreating a battle is associated with viking or roman conflict and therefore can be reformed and reshaped to suit the actors and their spectators. This could also be a modern form of explaining history, and as Deller was previously a student of art history he would be entirely familiar with classical depictions of battles scenes, through painting, sculptures, poetry and plays. Deller wanted to use a modern form of representation to tell the story of a modern day battle. It was also suggested that when Deller collaborated with the art organisation, they decided to announce the piece as a film rather than an artwork to get more people involved! Though today, we are able to use technology to make art in an entirely new format which is far more permanent than a typical painting or sculpture. A recorded video, particularly with thanks to advances in the internet, can remain indefinitely and be accessed by almost anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time. It becomes more universally accessed and therefore the true account of the battle can be the memory of the events and not just the distorted details scribed by journalists and political leaders.
Within the context I came to learn that the reenactment invited around 200 of the people involved, with the original conflict. It is probably one of the very few reenactments that could add this dimension. The surrounding history of the piece taught me a lot about the situation and the hostile realities of that time. It explained the real compassion of the artist and why he had been determined for a long time to investigate the atrocities of the circumstances.
The location of the peace is paramount to its creation. The re-enactment took place as close as possible to the original site and with original people as much as possible. Much like asking the original protesters to take part, it was to replicate and truly reenact the events with accuracy. It was almost a memorial (although thankfully no one died as a direct result of the battle) created by the people it was in honour of. As well as retaining the memories, the town itself still bears some of the scars from the war against the oppression, as families are still fighting to survive poverty and dereliction in the area. I believe Deller wanted to show the event and the outcomes within the same time and space.
By recreating the event on the same day exactly 17 years later (coincidentally on the 17th of June), he wanted to mark the date in time, again as a kind of memorial. In some cases, some of the people involved felt it was almost a ‘reliving’ of the date in 1984, rather than a reenactment. They were transported back in time to the emotions and the passion and fear they had felt before. This allowed more people to gain a sense of compassion with the original event which was somewhat biased in favour of the police officers and politicians when it was reported in the news.
Jeremey Deller could himself be associated with an iconic era in his artworks. He developed his talent through the 90’s and there is a continuous theme of community and investigation into collective works. His works titled ‘The History of the World’ and ‘Acid Bass’ similarly explores replicating one artwork into another format. He took 90’s acid house music and had them played by a brass band, changing and integrating different audiences and time periods. This could be said when considering ‘Battle of Orgreave’ because alongside the original officers and protesters, the reenactment invited hobbyists and actors that enjoyed recreating battles from viking or roman times. We can also see in the documentary that children have come to learn of the events that took place before they existed and in doing so, Dellar is memorialising the protest as other battles have been.
In summary, the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ is a multi dimensional work that is a modern form of telling a familiar story through time. It creates the documentation of a battle scene on the doorstep of yorkshire homes in the fight between the north and south, the workers and the leaders. There are many elements of time and place within the story itself, which have been cleverly cultivated to produce a work that is truly transgenerational and tells an unaltered story of a modern battle. A battle that is not unlike many of the thousands of battles before it.
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