Jeremy Deller – The Constant Buzz of a Drone
L’artista britannico Jeremy Deller (Turner Prize 2004), presenta The Constant Buzz of a Drone, un intervento site-specific a cura di Davide Trabucco, visibile anche a chi attraversa semplicemente lo spazio circostante, dal Ponte de Ca’ Balà, dalla Giudecca e, più nello specifico, dal Redentore.
Comunicato stampa
On the altana of Palazzo Querini in Ca’ Balà (Dorsoduro 245, Venice) — the typical rooftop terrace overlooking the city — the Bologna-based project Palazzo Bentivoglio inaugurates extra BENTIVOGLIO, a spin-off that brings activities developed within the historic building into the public realm, with British artist Jeremy Deller (Turner Prize 2004), who presents The Constant Buzz of a Drone, a site-specific intervention curated by Davide Trabucco, visible even to those simply passing through the surrounding space, from Ponte de Ca’ Balà, Giudecca and specifically from Redentore.
Drawing on the unmediated experience developed with garage BENTIVOGLIO, this project similarly aims to engage casual passers-by, offering them the chance to encounter the work, be taken by surprise, and construct a personal reading of it, according to their own time and perspective.
For many years, Deller has used the language of public signage as a primary artistic medium, working with slogans, archives, found texts, and actions in public space. Banners — historically employed in demonstrations and political campaigns by trade unions, parties, women’s suffrage movements, associations, and institutions — become, in his hands, direct tools, almost statements.
His statements assert themselves through clarity: while propaganda uses words to guide and manipulate, Deller instead reclaims their capacity to affirm, with immediacy, a shared truth. This banner emerges as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of all contemporary conflicts, evoking that sound — the buzz of a drone — which, for many, may be the last they ever hear.
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Jeremy Deller was born in 1966. He lives and works in London.
Much of Deller’s work is collaborative and marked by a strong political dimension, both in its subject matter and in its deliberate de-emphasis of artistic authorship through the direct involvement of others in the creative process. The strength of his practice lies in its ability to question the sacredness and perceived inviolability of spaces, social codes, and symbols of power—particularly those tied to political, economic, and religious structures.
Whether engaging with emblematic sites such as Stonehenge, physically intervening within them, or foregrounding popular culture by evoking communities such as music fans or notions of British identity, the focus remains on collective creative agency. Rather than submitting to or fearing established powers, his work sets up a critical confrontation between history, culture, and heritage.
Deller’s work is conceived to be experienced by all and invites active participation, unfolding as a shared process in which each individual plays a role. His practice—transhistorical and committed to free expression as a vehicle for meaning and values—opens up a dialogue between cultures, individuals, and temporal dimensions: past, present, and possible futures. In a society that claims to democratise access to culture while continuing to impose models of what is considered acceptable, Deller distances himself from such conventions, instead engaging with subcultures, folklore, and often marginalised communities.
Deller represented Britain at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 2004, and in 2010 received the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts.
