Decades of inclusion? Roma artists and contemporary art 27 April 2023 A picture containing horse Description automatically generated Oto Hudec: Invisible Museum, project, 2017 Nihad Nino Pušija (*1965) A group of people posing for a photo Description automatically generated ‘I was able to achieve a successful disruption of the canon of visual representation of Roma with the selection of Nihad Nino Pušija’s photographic works. I invited him to the exhibition with a small collection of non-typical “gypsy” photographs. My aim was simply not to repeat the images expected from the “ethno-industry” in order to point out a very important aspect: In order to legitimize themselves as artists, Romani artists do not have to create “gypsy-typical” works. I go even further: the versatility of the photographic motifs in Pušija’s work (see also the catalogue text by Dr. Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger) refers much more “honestly” to the complexity of ethnicized determinations of identity or to national affiliations and simultaneous hybridities - in Pušija’s case to ex-Yugoslavian and German culture - than is the case in “conventional” illustrations of Roma.’ André Raatzsch https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/50x-fotografien-ohne-antiziganismus/ http://www.fotofabrika.de/ 52nd Venice Biennale (2007): "Think with the Senses, Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense" Roma pavilion – transnational representation; ethnic collective Tunali, T. (2011). The politics of "Roma inclusion" at the 52nd venice art biennale. Studia Politica: Romanian Political Science Review, 11(4), 701-711. Is art history lagging behind processes of inclusion? – first Romani Group exhibition in 1979 (Budapest) Inclusion as “the consequence of a sudden and spontaneous humanitarian interest. They are the continuation of a complex set of political, economic, and discursive relations marked by the collapse of State Socialism and EU expansion which helped to institutionalize ”Western” human rights discourses to frame ”Eastern” ethnic conflicts and tensions in the process of the ongoing ”liberalization” and ”democratization” of the CEE countries” Tunali, T. (2011). The politics of "Roma inclusion”, 702–703. A picture containing building, sky, outdoor, tall Description automatically generated Did the Roma Pavilion in the 52nd Venice Biennial aim for negotiating the Roma’s ”particular political vocabulary” in need to be visible to Romany populations around Europe to build an alternative political solidarity? Or was this exhibition part of the institutional creativity aimed at the socio-political integration of the former communist Europe into the global economic circuits? Tunali, T. (2011). The politics of "Roma inclusion”, 703. Text Description automatically generated Identity and artistic expression Gabi JIMÉNEZ A picture containing person, indoor Description automatically generated Map Description automatically generated with medium confidence A picture containing text Description automatically generated András Kállai, Fat Barbie. 2006, Terracotta, plastic, 28 x 13 x 14 cm, http://universes-in-universe.de/car/venezia/eng/2007/tour/roma/img-19.htm A person holding a bottle and a statue of a naked person Description automatically generated with low confidence András KÁLLAI A close-up of a document Description automatically generated with medium confidence Kiba LUMBERG A picture containing text Description automatically generated Roma identity politics in the EU has not been employed to unveil the reasons of increasing social inequality; instead it has been applied to define Roma as a distinct community, which, in turn, has triggered traditional prejudices on them. Tunali, T. (2011). The politics of "Roma inclusion”, 705. ”Are we creating an ethnicising, socially motivated ’special case’, sponsored by philanthropy, in the hybrid environment of the art establishment?” Gottfried WAGNER, ”The Roma Pavilion in Venice: A Bold Beginning”, in Exhibition Catalogue: Paradise Lost, Open Society Foundations, Budapest, 2007, p. 36. A screenshot of a video game Description automatically generated with low confidence Tamás Péli (b. Budapest 1948, d. Budapest 1994), https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/staciok-portrefilm-peli-tamas-festomuveszrol/ Vanda Zsoldos, Stációk (Stations), 1988 ‘…and in order to become a Roma painter, the existence of the Roma bricklayer should be acknowledged. This is a massive and difficult question … and I would like to be a Hungarian painter … The time will come but I will not get the final immigration license from my colleagues for another year or two … I am going to present a significant piece of art at the World Fair and this work of art … will not be made by Tamás Péli the Roma painter but Tamás Péli, a painter with a European mind and soul, that of the image designer who is concerned with the future of this country and his community’. A person wearing a hat Description automatically generated with medium confidence “WE ARE WHAT WE ARE” ASPECTS OF ROMA LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY ART @ MINORITEN GALLERY, GRAZ (2004) (SHOWN IN TRNAVA IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR) Matei Bejenaru (RO) Michaela Bruckmüller (A) Pavlina Fichta Cierna (SK) Cosmin Gradinaru (RO) Iosif Kiraly / Mariana Celac / Marius Marcu-Lapadat (RO) Monika Kovacova (SK) Aydan Murtezaoglu (TR) Terez Orsos (HU) Nihad Nino Pusija (D/BiH) Gyöngyi Raczne Kalanyos (HU) Mario Rizzi (I), Erzen Shkololli (KOS) Mladen Stilinovic (HR) Ceija Stojka (A) Chad Evans Wyatt (USA/CZ) Dusan Zahoransky (CZ/SK) Nihad Nino Pusija, photo from the series "Ramadan Armani" A picture containing outdoor, person Description automatically generated Kitsch and the decorative as a style A group of people in clothing Description automatically generated with low confidence Helena & Erika Varga, https://romani.hu/en/ Text Description automatically generated https://www.vogue.com/article/roma-activism-fashion LACKA – Ladislava Gažiová https://www.artlist.cz/en/lacka-ladislava-gaziova-618-video/ A person with long hair Description automatically generated with low confidence O kosmos hino kalo/The Universe is Black, 2017, Moravian Gallery in Brno, A person wearing a garment Description automatically generated with low confidence Ladislava Gažiová, https://www.artmap.cz/artist/ladislava-gaziova/ Phundrado drom / The Open Road, Ethnographic Museum, Prague, 3. 6. 2022 – 31. 5. 2024 https://www.nm.cz/en/program/exhibitions/phundrado-drom-the-open-road#gallery-9 A picture containing text, indoor, window, shop Description automatically generated BíLá Místa, Hranicář Gallery, Ustí nad Labem (2020) A room with art on the walls Description automatically generated with low confidence https://artalk.cz/2020/10/05/roma-lives-matter-v-hranicari/?fbclid=IwAR2zbG0yCtwDxh874ZrCspWpNciDXD cyPXIozFszM1hilHljIcTH42TT3Dw A picture containing text Description automatically generated Romane Kale Panthera / Roma Black Panthers A group of people sitting at a table with food and drinks Description automatically generated with low confidence http://www.tamaramoyzes.info/?p=1420 Text Description automatically generated Diagram Description automatically generated with medium confidence Raphael Vella & Melanie Sarantou, Documents of Socially Engaged Art, InSEA (2021) A picture containing logo Description automatically generated Text Description automatically generated A picture containing horse Description automatically generated https://eriac.org/category/romamoma/ Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (*1978) A picture containing indoor, floor, ceiling, gallery Description automatically generated Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Re-enchanting the World, exhibition view, Polish Pavilion at the 2022 Venice. Biennale. Image courtesy Zachęta National Gallery of Art. Photo: Daniel Rumiancew.