HELLO, TODAY YOU HAVE DAY OFF | JEREMY DELLER

Jeremy Deller’s research (London, 1966) aims to trace a profile of contemporary society from a work-oriented perspective, drawing from the heritage of Britain’s industrial culture. Over the years, Deller has documented the urban working-class conditions, strikes, and protests in his country, bearing witness to the transition towards a post-industrial society characterized by labor policies that have the evident and disruptive effect of increasing the precarity and uncertainty of workers’ living conditions. A deep social commitment guides Deller’s practice towards a popular art capable of engaging the viewer and moving their awareness.

“Hello, today you have day off” is the phrase that could arrive at any moment to any worker who has an on-call contract. What might initially seem like a positive and reassuring phrase – “you have day off” – actually conceals the unsettling and degrading condition in which those people suddenly find themselves: unable to work and, consequently, unable to earn their salary.

Deller decides to write this sentence with bright white letters on a large piece of black rectangular fabric. Like a funeral drape, he hangs the black banner on the external wall of a building, above the entrance door, tall and clearly visible.
This social and political message, in the simplicity of the chosen expressive form, arrives directly, sincerely as well as disconcerting, to anyone who reads it.

Jeremy Deller’s work is currently exhibited as part of the group exhibition “The Irreplaceable Human – Conditions of Creativity in the Age of AI” at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art until April 1, 2024. The exhibition aims to answer the question “what is unique about humans?” at a time where artificial intelligence plays an increasingly influential role in the creative process.

Jeremy Deller
Hello, today you have day off (New Version), 2023
Fabric banner, 317 × 210 cm
Installation view from the exhibition “The Irreplaceable Human”. Photo: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art / Kim Hansen.
Courtesy of the artist and The Modern Institute, Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow.

10/01/2024