FUTUROMA

About

While the 2019 European Parliament elections are imminent, we are facing a newly divided Europe and the rise of nationalisms and violence against marginalized groups. Actively working to challenge any discriminations is a core responsibility for all of us. FUTUROMA, Collateral Event of the 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, is a powerful project that brings together the diverse contributions of members of Roma communities within European society(ies) throughout history and today. Curated by Daniel Baker and promoted by the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture e.V. (ERIAC), FUTUROMA gathers the works of fourteen innovative Romani contemporary artists, aged between twenty-seven and ninety-five, from eight countries across Europe (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom). FUTUROMA marks the third time Romani artists are presented in the Biennale Arte and it is the first time the initiative is led by Roma themselves. The project aims at bringing hidden Roma masterpieces to diverse audiences, highlighting the contributions of Roma as citizens and integral parts of the European cultural landscape. The works are “rooted in the techniques and traditions of the Roma diaspora, but at the same time decisively forward-looking” and place the viewer in a time-space dimension informed by the past but projected on to the future, enriching the here and now as the place for an alternative vision of the Roma identity.