Pluriculturalism in Contemporary Art and Culture
Moderna Museet, Malmö in partnership with Perpetuum Mobilε and the City of Malmö, Culture Department
Curated by Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen (Perpetuum Mobilε) with Timea Junghaus (in rotating order)
The Outside Insiders project at Moderna Museet, Malmö is being launched with a series of workshops co-organised with Senija Vurzer and Fredrik Elg of the City of Malmö, Culture Department
October 21, 2014
WORKSHOP II
Sapere aude!, “Dare to be wise!”
Roma Activism and Politics – A Comparative and Intergenerational Approach
How can Roma activism and politics be transformed and strengthened for future generations? This second workshop in theOutside Insiders programme-series aims to connect leading members of European Roma activism to create a discussion about the significance of intergenerational knowledge to empower Roma culture. Learning from past achievements and mistakes is made possible through a dialogue based on historical knowledge, which reaches out and to educate a new generation about the history of Roma activism, and the history and strategies of minority political movements more generally.
Significant developments in recent European Roma history took place during the 1960s, when a number of Roma organizations were established in France and the United Kingdom. As their numbers grew, there was increased interest in the creation of an international Roma organization. After years of extended effort, Roma from a number of European countries met in Orpington, near London, in April 1971 for the first World Romani Congress. This congress, considered the first truly international meeting of Roma, brought a number of successes. The International Roma Union was founded, the Roma flag was accepted, and the song “Gelem, Gelem” composed by Jarko Jovanović was adopted as an anthem. The delegates unanimously declared 8 April as International Roma Day. The congress also concluded that the politically correct term for all Roma, Gypsies, travellers, Gitani, Manoush, Kalle, Kalderash, and other Roma groups shall be “Rom”, meaning Man or Human in the Romani language.
Following the first World Romani Congress in 1971, Roma intellectuals and artists of all kinds began to claim recognition for themselves as individuals. Until this time, Roma culture was represented not as the work of authors and their singular experiences, but rather as collective facts of nature which only could find representation through the work of an ethnologist, non-Roma art collector or folklorist.
Times have changed. Today, numerous initiatives in most fields of art and activism are under development — from film and media initiatives to artists’ unions. Their establishment, along with the longer-term goal of creating grounded historical, linguistic and theoretical traditions is nevertheless an upward struggle. This workshop seeks to learn, not only from past experiences in Roma history, but from those of other communities, cultures and fields of activism.
1.30 pm Welcome by Senija Vurzer and Fredrik Elg
1.35 Introduction to Workshop II by Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen
1.45 pm Keynote lecture by Ágnes Daróczi
2.15 pm Coffee Break
2.30 pm Short Presentations and a Panel Discussion with
Tamara Moyzes
Fred Taikon
Kennet Johansson
Ágnes Daróczi
Senija Vurzer
Moderated by Dušan Marinkovic with Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen
4.00 pm Closing words by Dušan Marinkovic
Participants:
Ágnes Daróczi – “Roma Elder” and activist, Holocaust historian
Fredrik Elg – International coordinator and project manager, City of Malmö Culture Department
Kennet Johansson – Former Director General of the Swedish Arts Council (Malmö)
Dušan Marinkovic – Roma activist and rap artist (Malmö)
Tamara Moyzes – Artist, activist and curator (Prague)
Marita Muukkonen – Curator. Director of Perpetuum Mobilε (Helsinki/Berlin)
John Peter Nilsson – Director, Moderna Museet, Malmö
Ivor Stodolsky – Curator, Theorist. Director of Perpetuum Mobilε (Berlin/Helsinki)
Fred Taikon – Director, É Romani Glinda (Stockholm)
Senija Vurzer – Project assistant, City of Malmö Culture Department
www.perpetulamobile.org (Perpetual Pavilion)
