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Blue on the top, green on the bottom, a red star in the centre. At first glance, the poster for the exhibition, Manuš heißt Mensch – Manuš means human, seems to aim for a clear connection to the Romani flag, and therefore a perspective on Romani activism and politics. On closer examination, however, the question...

The exhibition Art and Healing – A Roma Contribution for Europe, on view at Schafhof – European Center for Art Upper Bavaria until 26 September, featured the nomadic RomaMoMA Library and works by Valérie Leray (F), Selma Selman (BIH), Dan Turner (UK), and Alfred Ullrich (D). Following our post on the RomaMoMA Library display at Schafhof and...

Even as I sit to write this short piece, I seek to find my voice through writing. For me, as a Romani woman, writing has become one of those forms that have allowed me to tell the history of anti-Roma Europe: the unspoken history. The embedded European racial terror against Roma and other racialised people...

In my consideration for RomaMoMA, I have chosen an entire exhibition, Art and Healing – A Roma Contribution for Europe, currently on view at Schafhof: the European Center for Art Upper Bavaria. To choose a singular artwork would not fairly represent the wide range of works homogenised by the term ‘Roma Art’. This exhibition is...

Introduction Representation matters. The great majority of those who will not feel the weight of this are those who do not suffer its absence. It is truly difficult to explain this type of absence to those who see themselves everywhere – in magazine columns, on the TV, and even in exhibition spaces. Nor is it...

  The INTERNATIONAL MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVE, financed by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany (FFO) is an ERIAC initiative to build on the results of the international outreach projects 1-4, to facilitate and strengthen membership engagement. ERIAC conducts the international cultural outreach programs for the recognition and promotion of Roma arts and culture with the...

The RomaMoMA Nomadic Library, initiated on the 50th anniversary of the First World Roma Congress, on International Roma Day, 8 April 2021, is currently on view at Schafhof: the European Center for Art Upper Bavaria, within the framework of the exhibition, Art and Healing – A Roma Contribution for Europe. Alongside the RomaMoMA Library, featured artists...

The third edition of the Autostrada Biennale launched 17 July in Kosovo. Extending between the cities of Prishtina, Prizren and Peja, What if a Journey… was curated by the Berlin-based curators Övül Durmusoglu and Joanna Warsza, and features Romani artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’s work, HERSTORIES. For the installation, supported by ERIAC, Mirga-Tas worked with Romani artist...

This week we feature the solo exhibition of Valérie Leray, No Innocent Landscape, currently on view at the ERIAC Gallery Space in Berlin, opened on 2 August as part of the commemorations of the Roma Holocaust. On view 2 August – 29 October 2021. No Innocent Landscape Valérie Leray’s landscapes are marked by abandoned, neglected, contested or...

NO INNOCENT LANDSCAPE Valérie Leray solo exhibition 02.08 – 29.10.2021   On view in the ERIAC gallery: Location: Reinhardtstraße 41-43, 10117 Berlin Opening hours: Monday to Friday 10-17h Visits are only possible with a previous appointment and a negative test result (not older than 24 hours). Fully vaccinated people can also show proof of vaccination.The last...

Helios F. Garcés, in his brilliant analysis published in Spanish in 2016, “El racismo antirom/antigitano y la opción decolonial”, which translates as “Anti-Roma/anti-Gypsy racism and the decolonial choice”, situates anti-Roma racism through a decolonial perspective at the very foundation on which modernity is built. The severe processes of racialisation have historically and materially displaced Roma...

At just ten years of age, Anna Maria Steinbach, known to her friends and family as ‘Setella’, was gassed in Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. While many may be unfamiliar with her name, many will be familiar with her image. Staring out of a wagon, her face full of fear as she was transported to the...

As part of the online campaign, we invited Spanish-Romani artist Rocio Montoya to develop a common visual identity to raise awareness of the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. The designs, including posters, cover pictures, Facebook profile picture frames and billboard designs are made freely available for all to use.  Download the complete VISUAL IDENTITY here     Discover the...

It is a great privilege to have been approached to share my thoughts on the RomaMoMA blog.[1] Nevertheless, my initial reaction was very personal and hesitant. I had to ask myself: who am I to be given this great opportunity to suggest, propose, advise, or simply share my personal scepticism, discomfort, and disenchantment about the...

Two weeks ago, we posted the video documentation of the Restitution panel discussion within the online conference, Critical Approaches to Romani Studies, organised by the Romani Studies Program at Central European University (CEU), in partnership with ERIAC and OFF-Biennale Budapest, 31 May 2021. Last week, we posted Part 1 of the transcript. Today we post...

Last week we posted the video documentation of the Restitution panel discussion within the online conference, Critical Approaches to Romani Studies, organised by the Romani Studies Program at Central European University (CEU), in partnership with ERIAC and OFF-Biennale Budapest, 31 May 2021. Today we post Part 1 of the transcript. The panel was introduced by...

Panel discussion within the online conference, Critical Approaches to Romani Studies, organised by the Romani Studies Program at Central European University (CEU), in partnership with ERIAC and OFF Biennale Budapest, 31 May 2021.  Recent struggles for racial justice and decolonisation have forced cultural institutions, museums, and galleries all over the world to critically reflect upon their...

The evolving concept of a Roma Museum has a crucial role to play in reclaiming access to our cultural histories, but questions remain regarding its future form. Possibilities range from a mobile museum to a dedicated building, but while debate continues, perhaps a more oblique take on the subject—a Roma MetaMuseum—might move us closer toward...