It Is What It Is: Conversations about Iraq

by Christina Shaffer

Sat., March 28, exhibit 10 a.m.-4 p.m., free, Fifth and Arch streets; public forum 6:30-8 p.m., free, Slought Foundation, 4017 Walnut St., 215-701-4627, slought.org

Last year's presidential election debates made it tough to forget the Iraq war. What's surprisingly simple, though, is severing yourself from the conflict emotionally — we hear reports and statistics about Iraq, but rarely see dead bodies or the physical aftermath.

British artist Jeremy Deller's exhibit, which is traveling from New York to Los Angeles in an RV, aims to be a blunt reminder of our disconnect. His exhibit includes the remnants of a car explosion that killed more than 30 people on Al-Mutanabbi, a street in Baghdad that was the country's nexus of cultural and intellectual life. The mangled vehicle, hitched to the back of Deller's RV, represents the war's veiled death toll.

"Whenever you watch the news and there's been a bombing, you don't see the bodies. You see a car," says Deller. "It becomes a replacement for the body."

Deller's exhibit also features photographs documenting the effects of the Al-Mutanabbi bombing and a large-scale map of the U.S. superimposed on one of Iraq. To create a sense of cultural exchange, Deller's maps swap city names. On the U.S. map, for example, Baghdad sits where Manhattan usually is.

Insisting that his exhibit takes a neutral stance on the war, Deller encourages guests to participate in a public discussion on Saturday evening with his two guests: Esam Pasha, an Iraqi citizen, and Sgt. Jonathan Harvey, an American veteran of the Iraq war. Afterward, it may be tough to forget that real, live men and women are at war, too.