ERIAC Exhibition Opening: Berlin Tales

Emanuel Barica (1994) is a graphic artist from Romania, whose artistic path is being articulated by the city of Berlin. A natural talent, Barica developed the method of “drawing by intuition”, and often uses the sound of music in a performative way. Barica has recently created the ‘Romani Gallery’, drawing portraits of the most prominent figures of the Roma movement in the frame of the Barvalo exhibition (May 10-September 4, 2023) at the Mucem in Marseille.

Luna De Rosa (1991) is an Italian activist and multidisciplinary artist from the Roma diaspora who lives and works between Berlin and Milan. The body serves as the starting point of her artistic work. Through interventions in the public sphere, she expresses the relationship that binds the body to the social context that essentially governs and defines it. In recent years, her artistic work has focused on the vulnerability of ethnic minorities, particularly the Roma, who experience significant exclusion and racism.

Mihaela Drăgan (1986) is an actress and playwright who lives and works mainly in Bucharest, but also in Berlin. In 2014, she founded Giuvlipen Theatre Company, whose performances have a feminist agenda and bring to life the issues of early marriage, antigypsyism, hate speech, hyper-sexualization, eviction, and heteronormativity in order to promote discussion and critical thinking. In Berlin, she formed part of the Maxim Gorki Theatre ensemble and performed in the ‘Roma Armee’ and ‘Medea Rromnja’ plays.

Nihad Nino Pušija (1965) is a photographer and artist originally from Bosnia, living and working in Berlin since the early nineties. He was one of the exhibiting artists of the First Roma Pavilion, ‘Paradise Lost’ in the frame of the Venice Biennale, 52nd International Art Exhibition in 2007. Pušija considers photography to be a medium for (re)gaining one’s identity and self-image, thus looks at his subjects through dignifying lenses. Art and community are intertwined in Pušija’s work, who not only followed the changes of Roma lives in the post socialist era, but also the main actors of the Roma cultural movement internationally.

Mersud Selman (1986) was born in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina and finished the Academy of Arts in his homeland. A trained painter, he also participated in the Roma English Languge Programme at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest and later found his home in Berlin. He has exhibited in several international shows from Austria to Italy, aiming to offer an alternative to the stereotypical depictions of Roma.

Alfred Ullrich (1948) is a contemporary artist from a Sinti family from Austria, who is connected in many ways to Berlin and Germany. For years, he has been organising etching workshops with his “Rolling Print Shop”, not only with members of the Sinti/Roma community. Ullrich was exhibiting artist of the second Roma Pavilion, ‘Call the Witness’ in the frame of the 54^th Venice Biennale in 2011.

David Weiss (1985) explores various artistic mediums, revolving around reflections on natural sciences, society, history, and literature. Currently, his focus centers on agricultural topics and climate change. Through these diverse techniques, Weiss creates a parallel universe in his works, where the boundaries between illustration, comic, collage, drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking blur. His attention is drawn to boundaries and the liminal, where the peripheral gains significance in the context of applied interculturalism.