History of the World (1998)

Jeremy Deller is a conceptual, video, and installation artist, whose practice explores political issues in relation to the countercultural. Deller is inspired by the potency of art to transform the everyday, interested in what happens when the mundane is made profound if only for a moment. Often drawing unexpected parallels between history, mythology, and contemporary events, Deller signposts how almost everything is connected. Much of his works utilise collaborative modes of creation as he embraces the devaluation of individual artistic ego by involving other people in the creative process. With this egalitarian approach to artmaking, Deller intends his work to be approachable, accessible, and relevant to the community it addresses.

The History of the World (1998) is a graphic and textual portrayal of the history, influence and context for acid house and brass band music. Adopting the form of a flow diagram, the print suggests that there are social and political echoes and points of confluence between these two musical movements. Dating from different eras, these movements at first listen are worlds apart – acid house being a post-industrial movement of the late 20th Century, and the brass band movement dating from the industrial era of the 19th century. The work is produced by printing the original image of the diagram onto a carpet. What looks like a casually handwritten flow diagram is something that has been carefully composed, drawn, and painted. Printed in a variety of sizes, Deller’s only specification is that the print should induce a sense of involvement in its viewer.

Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery is currently reinterpreting its industrial collection display to better reflect its relevance to Blackburn’s current communities. Looking to expand from the traditional technological interpretation of mills, the museum aims to diversify Blackburn’s industrial narrative. This will include looking at links with the transatlantic slave trade, the impact of the industrial revolution on the Indian and South Asian textile industry, the experiences and lives of working women and men, the ultimate decline of the industry and the reuse of the empty mills by the ravers, and illegal dance culture of the 1990s. Deller’s The History of the World explores similar themes based on Northern working class lives showing how mills have gone through massive adaptions to meet the needs of their local communities.

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