PRESS ROOM

Welcome to the press room of the Abduction from the Seraglio!

Over the course of the 127 years long history of the Biennale, the exhibition commissioned by ERIAC for the 59th International Art Exhibition is only the fourth occasion when a presence of Roma art is ensured. The current cultural underrepresentation of work made by Roma coupled with the continuing stereotypical representation of Roma by non-Roma allows our repression to continue. Aesthetic discrimination—its motivations not so different from racial or gender discrimination—continues to rule the art scene. Despite being the largest national minority to many of the exhibiting national representations, Roma don’t have a National Pavilion and our presence at the Biennale is contingent on paying the exuberant collateral event fee.

On April 22 we are reclaiming our space in Venice in a triumphal march celebrating cultural diversity! We will march with the Mahala Rai Banda from the Venice Giardini, where Malgorzata Mirga-Tas exhibits in the Polish Pavilion as the first Roma presented in the National Pavilion in the history of La Biennale, to the Palazzo Loredan for the opening ceremony of Eugen Raportoru The Abduction from the Seraglio.

17:00 Special Press Event: Inauguration of the Roma Exhibition – Eugen Raportoru:„The Abduction from the Seraglio – Performative Strategies of Resistance“ – Participatory Art with contributions by: Ethel Brooks, Ioanida Costache, Mihaela Drăgan, Delia Grigore, Angéla Kóczé, Dijana Pavlovic, Erasma Vicenzina Pevarello, Alina Șerban | Curated by Ilina Schileru, Location: Exhibition space, Palazzo Loredan, Campo S Stefano 2945, Venice

18:00-18:30 Opening Ceremony with The Pillers and Mahala Rai Banda, Location: Atrium, Palazzo Loredan, Campo S Stefano 2945, Venice

Click here to access our Press Release

The event live stream on our Facebook page.

Catalogue

We thank you for your interest in our exhibition and hope that you will be able to include information about ERIAC in your coverage of the 59th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. Please scroll down to browse some of the materials we would like to share with you- in the RomaMoMA Gazette, the special print issue of our weekly blog covering Roma art, you can find interviews with the exhibition Commissioners, artist Eugen Raportoru and curator Ilina Schileru, as well as short biographies of all the artists contributing to the exhibition. Additionally, RomaMoMA gazette includes the interviews with Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, the first Roma artist whose work is presented in the national pavilion, and with the curators of her exhibition in the Polish Pavilion. Follow the links below to read two important texts about the Roma presence at the Biennale by Daniel Baker and Monika Weychert. For even more background information about the Roma art, visit our blog RomaMoMA.

PREVIEW INFORMATION:

20 April- 22 April 2022, 12 pm -5 pm

20 April- 21 April 2022 4 pm- guided tour with curator Ilina Schileru

Regular visiting hours

April 23–November 27, 2022, Tuesday–Sunday, 9.30 am-5.30 pm

PRESS MATERIALS:

Press Release (English): ERIAC_PRESS RELEASE_ENG_FINAL

Press Release (Italian): ERIAC_PRESS RELEASE_IT

RomaMoMA Gazette

Catalogue

Interview with the Commissioners of the Abduction from the Seraglio

Interview with Eugen Raportoru