WE ARE WHAT WE ARE February 3 — March 4 You are kindly invited to attend guided tour with curators of the show on Friday, February 4th at 3pm Artists: Curators: In general, the approach to life among Roma and non-Roma has been very different, not to say diametrically opposed. The difference in world view has repeatedly triggered a wide range of reactions and responses - particularly among non-Roma (called Gadze in Romanes, the language of the Roma people) - ranging from fear to fascination. Probably because artists themselves have a special position in
society, they are often particularly interested in those who also
stand on the margins of mainstream society. Thus, it comes as
no surprise that we frequently find representations of Roma in
art history. The artistically addressed cultural manifestations from the different European Roma groups are surprisingly manifold and oppose what is publicly perceived as "being Roma." In most countries, public opinion about Roma follows a few clichés. The exhibition is conceived as a contribution to differentiated perspectives and views. An exhibition in the frame of the Culture2000 project: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matei Bejenaru In his video work "Salut" Matei Bejenaru aims to establish cross-border communication between the members of the largest ethnic group scattered all over Europe. Initially, the artist recorded a video message with local Roma in the Czech city of Brno, directed at the Roma in the Romanian city of Iasi. At the time the former and the latter were unknown to each other. Apart from effusively greeting their unknown fellow Roma, the Czech Romas concentrated on portraying their own living conditions. Then Bejenaru presented the video from Brno in his native city of Iasi and, in turn, the Romanian Roma replied with a video message Michaela Bruckmüller Michaela Bruckmüller has portrayed Roma artists for a fairly long time. On this account she has travelled around, photographing people in Spain, Italy, and Austria. In the context of the current exhibition project she has also been to Slovakia. Without resorting to the usual stereotypes of merry gypsy musicians, dancers, or actors and aiming at emphasising individual characteristics, she stages the individuals or groups in a self-confident way in their respective environments. Pavlína Fichta Čierna Using the medium of video Pavlina Fichta Čierna is able to portray people who have aroused her personal interest in an intense, emphatic and sensitive way. With the two short videos "Jarka in between" and "Juvenile David R." she manages to deliver a convincing double portrait of a Roma pair of brother and sister who have had to cope with poor living conditions since the day they were born. At the time of the recording of the video the brother is in prison, waiting for his upcoming trial. His sister helps their mother in a fatherless household, trying to come to terms with everyday life. Cosmin Gradinaru Cosmin Gradinaru has observed an everyday, yet, in the light of the rapid economical and social transformation, probably rather temporary phenomenon in and around Bucharest. In the context of contemporary art this phenomenon conveys a certain sculptural aspect. What you see are Roma carrying car wrecks on their simple horse-drawn carts. They collect the discarded vehicles where they have been left, take them to collection places for scrap metal and get money for this, at rates from 6 to 8 dollars. The artist comments on his work, "Some of the Roma developed a system within a system, becoming the last "sanitary attendants" of it, in which they have an important role." Mariana Celac / Iosif Király / Marius Marcu-Lapadat The artist Iosif Király, the architect Mariana Celac and the designer Marius Marcu-Lapadat have analysed the gorgeous Romanian Roma settlements together; settlements that make a great visual impact by means of their extravagant architecture and above all their elaborately ornamented roof scapes. Dealing with these settlements in the project "Tinseltown", the trio triggered off a more general preoccupation with a phenomenon, which — until then — had been largely ignored. The photographs of Iosif Király are rare examples of a felicitous and delicate approach to both architecture and, above all, the people in front of and inside their built environment. Monika Kováčová Monika Kováčová realised her photo series "The Secrets of Love" in the sealed-off world of a Slovak reform school for girls. As they have committed sundry delicts, the girls have to stay in the institution until they have reached the age of 18. Corresponding to the social hierarchy within the Slovak society the majority of the girls are Roma. A girl nicknamed "Choro-Bandy" occupies centre stage in this series of images. In the eyes of the artist she is "a knight of these days, fighting for love, truth, and her freedom". Aydan Murtezaoglu Aydan Murtezaoglu herself usually plays a primary role in her photographic works. In the case of "The Pilot" she is the person wearing a white blouse and dark trousers seemingly talking to a group of young Roma women. In consideration of the apparent light-heartedness of the Roma women the artist's posture seems almost stiff. Both the colourful skirts flying in the wind and the fact that the women are populating the urban place shoeless or wearing light sandals are mainly responsible for this impression. Fundamental questions concerning the Roma's status in the Turkish society are reflected in this composition. By the way, the scene is a digital montage based on several pictures. Teréz Orsós Teréz Orsós feels connected to the life of common people, who thus represent the central subject of her painting. In her paintings she time and again takes up social conflicts in the Hungarian society particularly pertaining to the Roma. Consequently, e.g. the painting "Homeless" shows a small group of people for whom the bench at a bus stop represents the only 'shelter' for the night. At the same time you see the dark silhouette of apartment buildings in the background. In many places the Roma have been pushed into such faceless constructions and for this reason they have, in a sense, become homeless too. Nihad Nino Pušija Nihad Nino Pušija is on the road, following the tracks of Bosnian Roma who left Bosnia during the last decades and are now living scattered all over Europe. In the series "Ramadan Armani" he visits Roma living in Vicolo Savini, a camp on the outskirts of the Italian capital, Rome. As Muslims, they also celebrate the Ramadan in their present whereabouts. In his work the artist illustrates the numerous disruptions brought about by such a festival at a place like this. In the outer perception various cultural influences are condensed into a bizarre event. Gyöngyi Ráczné Kalányos The large-size painting (2,76 x 5,94 m) has been created as a part of the installation "Wonder Barrack" developed by Gyöngyi Ráczné Kalányos for the exhibition "The Hidden Holocaust" at the Mücsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest. There, the painting made up the side wall of a concentration camp barrack model. Seen in this context, the angelic beings with their wings of flames populating the landscape under a starlit sky get a depressing meaning. They stand for those hundreds of thousands of Roma who were killed by the bloodhounds of the Nazi regime. Mario Rizzi Supported by local Roma, Mario Rizzi has realised a multi-part video installation in Albania. The importance of the spoken word in the Roma culture, and here in particular in the form of stories handed over from one generation to the next, and at the same time reformulated time and again, is the subject-matter of his work. The artist had many Roma tell him fairy-tales, or rather folk-tales. Then he edited them in several groups. Among them there is a collection of lullabies that Albanian Roma mothers sing to their children, and where the qualities essential for the artist culminate: "they have an invaluable musical quality and a suggestive plastic one." Erzen Shkololli In his work "Kanagjeçi", which can be translated with girls' night, Erzen Shkololli uses video footage of the night before the wedding, when all the women and the girls of a settlement gather to say goodbye to the bride, who is going to leave her family on the next day. Accompanied by music and chants, the veiled bride paces from one woman present to the next and bids farewell in a ceremony of continuous heart-rendering howling. On the occasion of the event the artist reflects on a tradition that actually originates in the Albanian culture and is only rarely being followed nowadays, in this case in a Roma community. Mladen Stilinović Mladen Stilinović's collage "Sing!", Pjevaj! in (Serbo-)Croatian, refers to a custom well known in numerous countries of the Balkans. In the course of a musical performance people spit on banknotes and stick them on the singer's forehead in order to make him go on singing. This gesture is also common in Roma communities; in some places people even claim that it has its origins in the Roma culture. Yet, the photograph at hand is not a picture of a singer but of the artist himself. In this way he raises the question of the position of the artist within a society in quite general terms. To date one of the few roles in which the general public likes to see Roma, too. Ceija Stojka Ceija Stojka is a survivor of the Holocaust. As a born Romni she was exposed to persecution by the Nazi regime and together with her family she was deported to the concentration camps of Bergen-Belsen, Ravensbrück and Auschwitz. In the end of the 1980s she wrote the book Wir leben im Verborgenen where she began to give an account of her inconceivable experiences in the concentration camps. During that same period she took up painting, and the depiction of the Holocaust plays an important role in her visual art, too. The images stored deep inside many years ago never stop coming to the outside and form a constantly growing memorial for future generations. Chad Evans Wyatt Chad Evans Wyatt visited and photographed Roma all over the Czech Republic who hold jobs that are well accepted in society and thus totally contradict the widespread stereotype of itinerant outlaws. Ergo, to emphasise this, the photographs were shot in the people's work environment. In the meantime, portraits of more than one hundred individuals have been created who presumably, as members of a minority group, had to deliver better performances than others in most of the cases to reach their positions. Moreover, the series serves as a starting point to meditate on the specific moment when the majority has managed to absorb the minority. Dušan Zahoranský Dušan Zahoranský has filled a 2 minutes sequence from the US TV series "J.A.G." with diverse new content. What has developed from this is a work that reflects Neo-colonialism associated with the power of the media and points out the fact that meanwhile the people "receive" the same programme in many countries and in all kinds of households. The artist leaves it to the viewer to choose the language to the image. You can make your choice between Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, Russian and Romanes.
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