In his piece “Putin’s Happy” (2019), Jeremy Deller deals with the misguided patriotism that eventually led to the Brexit-referendum. The artist investigates British national myths as well as the political history of his country. The repeated linguistic use of certain expressions in reference to Brexit in the media influenced the perception of the issue and contributed to the forming of certain stereotypes. Paige Baralija from the department of English at the University of Graz is the guest of this “Focus”-tour and will provide insight into the way the Brexit was discussed in British media and the consequences of “framing.”

The format “In Focus” devotes an hour examining the work of one single artist in detail and investigates this position in conversation with external experts of various fields of expertise. The tours are included in the festival pass. You can book your tour at the “Office of Open Questions” of steirischer herbst and online.

Paige Baralija MA (*1990 Kosovo, lives in Graz) studied English and American studies at the University of Graz. She has been teaching courses in theoretical and applied linguistics, cultural studies and language training since 2017. Apart from teaching at the University of Graz, she is also currently enrolled as a doctoral student. In her doctoral thesis, she investigates the representation of minority groups, such as Hispanic characters, in entertainment media. In the last summer term she taught a British cultural course, in which she discussed cognitive and cultural approaches in linguistics with a focus on the representation of Brexit in British media.