LOS ANGELES, CA.- It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq is a new work by British artist Jeremy Deller. The artist has invited a diverse group of individuals—including Iraq war veterans, journalists, scholars, playwrights and Iraqi nationals who have first-hand experience of Iraq —to take up residence at the Hammer Museum with the express purpose of encouraging discussion with visitors to the Museum. The remains of a car that was destroyed in Iraq will share the courtyard with the resident guest experts. This object is meant to stimulate dialogue and ground conversations in reality.

Several confirmed participants include Issam Al-Askari whose family held many top positions in the Iraqi government prior to fleeing in 1958, Manal El-Shawaf Karim a Baghdad-born businesswoman who got her Master's in Architecture at UCLA, and Sean Huze who served in Iraq from 2001-2005 and has since authored several critically acclaimed plays including Sand Storm: Stories from the Front and Weasel.

It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq is part of the Three M Project – a series by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, to commission, organize, and co-present new works of art.