• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

NOMADA

Stowarzyszenie na Rzecz Integracji Społeczeństwa Wielokulturowego

facebookBiuletyn Informacji Publicznejpowiększ czcionkę
  • Polish
  • English
  • Russian
  • Spanish
  • About us
  • COUNSELLING SERVICE
  • Education
  • Publication
  • Contact
  • Donate us
You are here: Home / News / Houses as Silver as Tents

Houses as Silver as Tents

15/10/2013 by redaktor

15.10–15.12.2013 / Opening: 14.10.2013

Although Romani people live among us, there are a lot of issues that divide us. Most of all, it is our

perception of the mentioned ethnically-foreign co-inhabitants. Their presence is real, and yet they

remain absent – ignored and hated. The exhibition presents, among others, the collection of clichѐ

representations: etchings, photographs and paintings (from 19th to 20th century), which reflect

orientalising and stereotypical image of the Romanies and their existence in Polish art. We have not yet

passed through this stage – for years neither Polish artists nor theorists have altered the already developed

iconographic models. ‘ . . . the colonising act of European majorities toward the Roma, is the most visible

and evident.’ (Timea Junghaus).

The exhibition focuses on the notion of ‘Gypsiness’. As it turns out, we have difficulties in comprehending

the mechanism of reproduction of the Roma’s identity. What does ‘Gypsiness’ mean for Poles? How has

the stereotypical image of a Gypsy been shaped? And how have the Roma themselves shaped their own

image by adjusting it to the expectations of others as an adaptation strategy? Is it possible to capture the

truth about this particular ethnic minority from the above notions? What vestiges of colonial domination

can be discerned here? To what principles and characteristics have the ‘imitators’ — bohemian artists or

New Gypsies – related? How significant — and disastrous sometimes — has the perpetuation of these worn

clichés been? “Where sober policy texts steer away from dangerous stereotypes with just a few warning

words about prejudices, this exhibition steers slap-bang for the middle of the stereotypes, revelling in their

kitsch contradiction of the sober norm. ‘ . . . By confronting the stereotypes imaginatively, by refusing to be

frightened or shocked by them, [artists] turn those silences into a message.’(Thomas Acton)

Works of artists from different countries provide possibilities to go beyond stereotypes. Problems that

the exhibition touches upon include: hidden integration vs. forced assimilation, nomadism as a possible

social alternative, the notion of ‘Gypsiness’, and the voice of the Romani community in the discussion

on extermination. A common ground for many aforementioned problems is constituted by architecture,

which not only serves as a testimony to the unforced development of Polish-Romany double identity,

but it also becomes an inspiration for a deep reflection on nomadism or the ignored Romani Holocaust.

We look at how a historical counter-narrative is formed, how the Romani experience proves inspiring for

contemporary cultural reflection, how Romani artists take control over their community’s image. As the

Roma artist Daniel Baker writes in the publication accompanying the exhibition: ‘Elusive visibility has long

been the gift of the Roma, but if we as Roma are to effectively challenge the status quo, we now need to

privilege the visible over the elusive.’

Long absence of social, political or even historical comment on Polish-Romanian relations is striking,

especially that the said relations are fraught with misunderstanding, intolerance and random acts of

violence. ‘We do not serve Romani people here’, ’Romani people are not allowed to use our taxicabs’ —

these were the slogans that appeared in Poznań and were described by Lidia Ostałowska in 2011! In 2013

Polish nationalists triggered riots in Wrocław aimed at burning a Romani camp. In Andrychów local people

demanded displacement of their Roma neighbours. Polish context is particularly interesting because of the

artistic milieu, which — although usually socially sensitive — has not yet referred to the racism present

right next to us. While stories untold have much bigger potential and force than those constantly repeated

and reinterpreted, they also pose a certain threat since many years of negligence makes narrative and

discursive approach oversimplified or misused. Therefore, the exhibition focuses on the visualness as a

subconscious and emotional factor. It can be stated that the visual thinking (holistic, intuitive, lateral) is

always irrational. In fact, however, it helps to break the boundaries of current false logic — negligence,

stereotypization, social exclusion and racism — used against indigenous ‘others’ present in our reality

and in art. The language of art can foster intercultural dialogue. Such is the role of the exhibition held at

Zachęta — National Gallery of Art — to make the marginalized Romani problem a part of the main social,

political, economic or aesthetic discourse, and thus to make Romani people present in Polish society — to

fight their invisibility.

*quotes come from texts published in the book Romano kher. O romskiej sztuce, estetyce i doświadczeniu

accompanying the exhibition.

Artists:

Neal Adams & Joe Kubert & Stan Lee, Daniel Baker, Delaine Le Bas, Tadeusz Borowski, Bownik &

Marcelina Gunia, Olga Boznańska, Kazimierz Czapiński, Hubert Czerepok, Maria Demiter & Anna

Kamińska, Jerzy Dorożyński, Jerzy Ficowski, Wojciech Gerson, Maksymilian Gierymski, Edward

Gorazdowski (based on Franciszek Kostrzewski), Wojciech Jerzy Has, Juliusz Kossak, Antoni Kozakiewicz,

Jan Krajewski (based on Ludwik Kurella), Ignacy Krieger, Aleksandra Kubiak, Leon Lewkowicz, Jerzy

Litwora, Iain McKell, Aernout Mik, Karol Młodnicki (based on Artur Grottger), Jana Müller, Franciszek

Mrozek, Edward Nicz (based on Józef Brandt), Constant Nieuwenhuys, Igor Omulecki & Payam

Sharifi, Antoni Piotrowski, Dorota Podlaska, Jerzy Potrzebowski, Izabella Rapf-Sławikowska, Francis

Reisz, Tadeusz Rolke, Marek Rudowski & Mateusz Wiśniewski, Julian Schübeler (based on Franciszek

Kostrzewski), Zygmunt Sidorowicz, Władysław Siwek, Jan Styfi (based on Hipolit Lipiński), Tomasz

Tomaszewski, Bruce Weber, Alex Wedding (born: Grete Weiskopf) & John Heartfield (born: Helmut

Herzfelde), Piotr Wójcik, Andrzej Zajkowski (based on Franciszek Kostrzewski)

curator: Monika Weychert Waluszko

collaboration on the part of Zachęta: Magdalena Komornicka

consultation: Tomasz Koper

assistance to the work by Aernout Mik: Emile Miedema, Martijn Rooker

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • [:pl]Aukcja Sztuki - Międzynarodowy Dzień Walki z Rasizmem[:pl]Aukcja Sztuki - Międzynarodowy Dzień Walki z Rasizmem Welcome to the third edition of NOMADA's art auction, an event that…
  • Proces eksmisyjny wytoczony rodzinom romskim zawieszonyProces eksmisyjny wytoczony rodzinom romskim zawieszony Sąd Rejonowy we Wrocławiu przychylił się do wniosków o zawieszenie procesu eksmisyjnego,…
  • Noc Muzeów we Wrocławiu. „Pe drom baro… Na wielkiej drodze. Od Cyganów do Romów”. Wizyta w galerii OczamiNoc Muzeów we Wrocławiu. „Pe drom baro… Na wielkiej drodze. Od Cyganów do Romów”. Wizyta w galerii Oczami 20 maja w ramach Nocy Muzeów w Muzeum Etnograficznym odbyła się premierowa…

Footer

Adres: ul. Paulińska 4/8
Wrocław 50-247
telefon do biura: 71 307 03 35
e-mail: [email protected]

Konto bankowe:
BRE Bank
40 1140 1140 0000 4690 1800 1001
/ wpłaty prosimy dokonywać z dopiskiem
“darowizna na cele statutowe”

KRS: 0000342030
NIP: 8982168187
REGON: 021136714

· Projekt strony: iovo ·