On Tuesday, March 31, an exhibition touring the country by RV will stop in the STL. Jeremy Deller, the artist behind It Is What It Is Conversations About Iraq, Esam Pasha, and Jonathan Harvey will all be stationed with their RV and a “bombed out car” outside in the Delmar Loop in between Leland Ave and Melville Ave.Pasha and Harvey both have ties with Iraq as Pasha is an Iraq refugee, a translator for America and British forces in Iraq, the grandson of an Iraqi prime minister assassinated in 1958, and an artist and Harvey is a Iraq War veteran who served in Iraq from 2007 to January 2009 and will converse with the public throughout the day.
The bombed car (in which the RV pulls along with it everywhere it goes), was destroyed in an explosion in Baghdad. It is not supposed to be considered a sculpture, but as a visual aid and talking point. The street that this car was bombed on in Baghdad was once a thriving cultural center and Baghdad and is now devastated.
This project is traveling to 13 cities total. There is much more information on the website www.conversationsaboutiraq.org including a list of all the cities and locations it will be.
There is also a blog post and a little bit of discussion on a new St. Louis collaborative blog, St. Louis Art Map.