In an art world in which money, scandal and celebrity still make the headlines, it’s worth pausing to appreciate why artists make work and why we go and see it. Much has been written about Deller over the decades but this, ‘the best book by Jeremy Deller’, is the first time he has pulled together all of his cultural touchstones.

The faux-campness of Sweet almost certainly informed the style of the 70s glam wrestler Adrian Street, the subject of Deller’s film So Many Ways to Hurt You, which he made between 2010 and 2012. He describes the rural acid-house raves of the late 80s, which he explored in his film Everybody in the Place, as “Dionysian and Bacchic”. Whether it's stepping on Stonehenge's sacred ground, jumping on it or highlighting popular culture, evoking music fans or the British, it's all about mass creative power. Rather than fearing or suffering the powers in place, it results in a confrontation between history, culture and heritage. Curating the festival for the first time, Jen and James have been inspired by Folkestone and how we can all come together through inspired discussion about global ideas, global thinking and possible futures.

An entertaining and revealing journey into the mind of one of Britain’s greatest contemporary artists. In work that is playful, political and provocative, borrowing from many forms and produced over many mediums, Jeremy Deller enjoys critical acclaim in the UK and across the world.

First monograph in French: from Rod Stewart to the Industrial Revolution, Art is Magic collates all of acclaimed artist Jeremy Deller's cultural touchstones into one lovingly curated volume, balancing these artistic inspirations with examples of Deller's visionary work. The book captures this through its inhabited photos, showing the work in both gallery settings and public places. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. A holistic and revealing account of the inspirations, passions and practices of one of the country’s foremost contemporary artists. Art is Magic is the first book in which the artist reflects on the entirety of his career, his life and his art.I do, yes,” he says, nodding, when we sit down to chat amid the organised clutter of the office of his flat overlooking north London’s Holloway Road, where he does most of his thinking and planning. In many of our projects we find cocreation with residents and visitors can introduce unexpected elements that improve the usefulness and value of our designs. The book features work from across Deller’s life and art and includes Sacrilege, the inflatable Stonehenge, the Iggy Pop Life Class, The Battle of Orgreave, a recreation of a confrontation from the Miners’ Strike, bats (a subject in at least three of Deller’s works), Andy Warhol (whom he met in 1986), rave culture, hen harriers pecking out the eyes of a Tory MP, and a giant Chameleon slide. Only 316 copies have been printed and each comes shrink-wrapped with a silk screen print by Jeremy, numbered and signed. Does he worry about the current state of the world, the rising populism, the media propaganda, the acute sense of imperilled democracy?

Art is Magic is an attempt to link the key works of Jeremy Deller’s career with the art, pop music, cinema, politics and history that have inspired his work.The great strength of Jeremy Deller's artworks is that they directly raise the question of the sacredness and untouchability of spaces, social codes and emblems of power and even more so of political, economic and religious powers. Interviews with figures as diverse as Mary Beard and Jonny Banger punctuate Deller’s reflections, as do artworks from numerous contemporaries of Deller’s, including Nick Abrahams, Tasha Amini, Olivier Antoine of Art Concept, Cecilia Bengolea and Sean Bidder.