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To round off the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â’s Bicentenary celebrations, Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller will be celebrating with festivals, gatherings, and art in the public realm, in a brand-new, UK-wide work, the largest of its kind to take place to date. 

Major moments and projects, which will involve hundreds of participants, will happen across Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland. Raves, parades, exhibitions, tea and cake and more will be made with and for people across the UK. It will also feature brass bands, lido swims and brand new banners made by long-time collaborator Ed Hall. A new exhibition of work from Deller’s own archive will also take place, combined with work by other emerging artists curated by Jeremy Deller, with one of the partners.

The commission will culminate in a day-long spectacular in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 26 July 2025 where these projects will come together. It starts with a procession along Whitehall that you can follow into the square. You can dance, play, make, drink tea, eat cake and see performances and characters that you might recognise from the collection…and some you might not. 

Collaborators include:

And many more.

Emily Stone, Curator, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â said, 'Over two years Jeremy Deller has explored ancient mythologies, local folklore and motivations to gather, from across the UK and from the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â’s Collection to create an event that is joyful, surreal and hopefully like nothing else that has come before. 'The Triumph of Art' is a celebration of creativity, making and impressive bodies – a blend of the ancient and the contemporary – which can only be truly experienced live, eventually becoming its own mythology in the stories, images and memories of those who were present. The project is really the first of its kind in the UK and we can’t wait for everyone to join in.'

For the project, 'The Triumph of Art', The Box in Plymouth, Mostyn in Llandudno, The Playhouse in Derry/Londonderry and Duncan of  Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee are partnering with the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â to deliver the events across the UK. These organisations mark a significant expansion in the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â’s partnership strategy, including  for the first time a performing arts venue in The Playhouse, and the first formal partnership with an art school (or college) in Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University of  Dundee.  The Triumph of Art will culminate in London, bringing elements from all of these together. 

What’s happening across the UK before London? 

In Derry/Londonderry – 'The Triumph of Music' took place on 19 April. The project documented the importance of the early rave scene in the north of Ireland and the risks people took to party.  Starting with a procession led by the mumming group The Armagh Rhymers, who have worked with a group of young artists from The Playhouse to create a new set of characters based on ‘the rave’. En route to the Guildhall Square they collected these characters with a mix of traditional music, dance and storytelling that draws the public into their world. A new 'supergroup' titled The Floorfillers, made up of musicians from the Londonderry Bands Forum performed new musical arrangements, with a nod to the rave, inside the Guildhall. Live acoustic covers were performed by young people from the Youth Engagement Service in Paddy Bloomers Barn also based in the Square. Inside the Guildhall, led by musician and artist Jonny Delaney, the public could get hands-on with music production, and to acknowledge local music organisers Celtronic’s 25 year anniversary, a room of archive material showing posters and photographs from over the years were accompanied by a new interview between Gareth Stewart (The Founder of Celtronic) and Jeremy Deller.
 
In Dundee, you can 'Meet the Gods' on 24 May. Students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design have created performances, costumes, staging and activities inspired by classical mythology and taking the form of The Revels – a long-established student-led party that used to take place for the people of Dundee. 
 
In Wales, in Llandudno - 'Carreg Ateb: Vision or Dream?' takes place across the solstice weekend, on 21 June at Mostyn, and 22 June at Bryn Celli Ddu, and an exhibition that runs at Mostyn until the Autumn. Young people working with Welsh theatre company Frân Wen have developed their own mythological characters, who will emerge from Manod slate quarry (the location of where the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Collection was stored during the Second World War). The procession will open the summer show at Mostyn which has been co-curated with Jeremy Deller, including new commissions by five early career Welsh artists. Esyllt Angharad Lewis, Gweni Llwyd, Lewis Prosser, Llyr Evans and Sadia Pineda Hameed will produce a series of site and theme responsive commissions which will be shown alongside objects from the National Museum of Wales, Llandudno Museum and Storiel, and works by Jeremy Deller. On the 22nd of June, to celebrate the solstice weekend, Deller, Frân Wen, community members, and special guests from the other Celtic nations will convene at Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey for a celebratory outdoor public gathering in collaboration with Cadw.
 
In Plymouth, 'Hello Sailor' takes place on 5 July. Beginning with a procession from The Box (art gallery and museum) to Tinside Lido, people will be able to observe an installation from the roadside as Hello Sailor starts to take shape across the course of the day. The Powerbuilding Gym, Camborne Town Band with Simon Dobson and University of Plymouth’s Swimming, Synchro and Water polo Club will feature on the day. As the event draws to a close all are invited to bring their costumes for a swim in the lido as the sun sets on the Hoe. This event is free but ticketed.

Jeremy Deller said, 'I’m looking forward to working with partners across all four nations to create something epic to mark the Gallery’s 200 years.'

Notes to editors

About Jeremy Deller

Jeremy Deller (b. 1966, London) studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute and at Sussex University. He began making artworks in the early 1990s, often showing them outside conventional galleries. In 1993, while his parents were on holiday, he secretly used the family home for an exhibition titled Open Bedroom.

Four years later he produced the musical performance 'Acid Brass' with the Williams-Fairey Band and began making art in collaboration with other people. In 2000, with fellow artist Alan Kane, Deller began a collection of items that illustrate the passions and pastimes of people from across Britain and the social classes. Treading a fine line between art and anthropology, 'Folk Archive' is a collection of objects which touch on diverse subjects such as Morris Dancing, gurning competitions, and political demonstrations. The 'Folk Archive' became part of the British Council Collection in 2007 and has since toured to Shanghai, Paris and Milan. 

In 2001 Deller staged 'The Battle of Orgreave', commissioned by Artangel and Channel 4, directed by Mike Figgis. The work involved a re-enactment which brought together around 1,000 veteran miners and members of historical societies to restage the 1984 clash between miners and police in Orgreave, Yorkshire. In 2004, Deller won the Turner Prize for Memory Bucket (2003), a documentary about Texas. He has since made several documentaries on subjects ranging from the exotic wrestler Adrian Street to the die-hard international fan base of the band Depeche Mode. 

In 2009 Deller undertook a road trip across the US, from New York to Los Angeles, towing a car destroyed in a bomb attack in Baghdad and accompanied by an Iraqi citizen and a US war veteran. The project, 'It Is What It Is', was presented at Creative Time and the New Museum, New York and the car is now part of the Imperial War Museum’s collection. In the same year he staged 'Procession', in Manchester, involving participants, commissioned floats, choreographed music and performances creating an odd and celebratory spectacle. During the summer of 2012 'Sacrilege', Deller’s life-size inflatable version of Stonehenge – a co-commission between Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and the Mayor of London – toured around the UK to great public acclaim.

In 2013 Deller represented Britain at the Venice Biennale with a multi-faceted exhibition titled, 'English Magic'. Encompassing notions of good and bad magic, socialism, war, popular culture, archaeology and tea, the exhibition gave a view of the UK that was both combative and affectionate. His First World War memorial work - 'We’re Here Because We’re Here' (2016) and the documentary 'Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984–1992' (2019), have influenced the conventional map of contemporary art. Most recently Deller has published 'Art is Magic', a book that documents key works in his career alongside the art, pop music, film, politics and history that have inspired him.

About The Box, Plymouth

The Box opened in September 2020, the result of an ambitious £47m regeneration project which has transformed Plymouth’s former City Museum and Art Gallery, Central Library and St Luke’s church. We have already welcomed over 575,000 visitors.

With a vision focused on ‘reimagining the future through the past’, a programme that combines the best of contemporary art with significant art, natural history, human history, film, photographic and archive collections, plus social, retail, education and research spaces, The Box is a fantastic resource for the city and the South West. Working with artists and audiences, we are committed to shaping civic pride, finding creative ways to engage with those who are least able to access culture, and using our distinctive blend of museum, gallery and archive to ask questions about and explore the issues relating to the world we live in.

About Mostyn

Mostyn is a free to enter, public art gallery in Llandudno, Wales. From its beautiful Edwardian terracotta frontage to the RIBA award-winning modern architecture within, Mostyn combines art and architecture as a setting for its programme of outstanding international contemporary art, shown within its galleries and online. Their community engagement programme includes a diverse and accessible range of talks, tours and workshops, and the renowned Siop (shop) supports over 400 artists and makers from Wales and across the UK.

'Carreg Ateb' is the name of a rock believed to cause an echo, an answering stone. In this context 'Carreg Ateb' refers to some kind of animate resonance, connected with an aspect of the local geology and landscape.

About The Playhouse

The Playhouse is one of the most vibrant theatres and arts organisations in Northern Ireland, established to meet the needs and aspirations of people and communities at a time of conflict.  We have since grown to become a national asset: an award-winning producing theatre, an empowering centre for learning and a global leader in the arts and peaceful change. We matter to our locality and to the international communities we connect with and we continually innovate to offer a space to make meaning and a place that’s here for good. We believe in inclusion, in inspiring creativity and opening up the imaginative world of theatre, dance, art and music for everyone to enjoy. The Playhouse is core funded by the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, Derry City and Strabane District Council, and Community Relations Council.

Web: 

Socials: @playhousederry

About Duncan of Jordanstone

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee and is one of the UK’s top art and design schools.

The College is ranked Number one in Scotland and in the Top 10 in the UK (Complete University Guide 2024).

In the UK Research Assessment Framework 2021, research at DJCAD was rated as top in the UK for Environment and top in Scotland for Impact.

About the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â

ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Bellini, Cézanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. The Gallery’s key objectives are to enhance the collection, care for the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. Admission free. More at

More information and book tickets for events at 

On 10 May 2024 the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â was 200 years old, and we started our Bicentenary celebration, a year-long festival of art, creativity and imagination, marking two centuries of bringing people and paintings together.

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