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The curator answers:
Interview with Timea Junghaus, the curator of the Paradise Lost, The First Roma Pavilion at Venice Biennale
Timea Junghaus earned a B.A. in Art History at the Eötvös Lóránd University of Science (ELTE), Budapest, and was an awardee of the Kállai Ernő Scholarship. Before joining Hungarofest Kht., where she organized international art events, in 2003 she was the curator of the largest Roma art collection in Hungary.
At present she works for the Arts and Culture Programme of the Open Society Institute, Budapest.
She considers it her mission to present Roma artists in the context of contemporary art. In this spirit, she has participated in the creation of such exhibitions as The Hidden Holocaust in Műcsarnok (2004), We Are Who We Are, which opened in the Graz Minoriten Gallery in 2004 and has travelled to several European capitals, Common Space in Ernst Múzeum (2006) and About the absence of the Camp in the Dresden Kunsthaus. As an art historian and curator, she seeks to further the widespread recognition and unprejudiced appreciation of Roma culture.
Roma Pavilion News: The Venice Biennale is one of the most prestigious cultural events in the world. Since its inception in 1895, it has offered the most advanced contemporary art the opportunity to appear before a large audience. The 2005 Biennale attracted approximately 260,000 visitors. The 52nd Contemporary Art Biennale will be open between June 6 and November 21, 2007. So, the decision about the Biennale was natural. But, why a Roma Pavilion?
Timea Junghaus: For centuries, the Roma could appear in art only in representations that were created exclusively by the non-Roma. The romantic, exotic image produced, the phantasm of the “Gypsy romance” wherein barefoot dancers bang happily on their tambourines, has remained to this day.
A new generation of Roma intellectuals and artists is emerging, however, along with a new Roma consciousness. Successful and well-educated Roma proudly acknowledge their origin, rather than opt for assimilation and relinquish their cultural heritage. Roma contemporary art, directly and indirectly, explores the position held by the Roma in contemporary societies. By creating images of the Roma that oppose those of the mainstream culture, Roma artists are fighting to reverse long-held stereotypes. They are also fighting for access to mainstream audiences.
The Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will be the first, internationally significant step toward assuring that Roma contemporary art finds the audience it deserves. As well as allowing contemporary Roma artists to present their work and ideas on a world stage, this pavilion at the premier international art forum will have to highlight that the Roma have a vital role to play in the political and cultural landscape of Europe. This minority has not had the chance to communicate this idea to the world, nor has the world been able to learn about it.
The presence of the Roma at the Venice Biennale – where they claim their own space in both a physical and cultural sense – will show that Roma artists speak in a visual language that can be understood worldwide. It will be a historic move toward dismissing those stereotypes and misconceptions that surround this culture.
The Roma Cultural Project of the Open Society Institute submitted its application to the Artistic Director and Board of Advisors of the Venice Biennale in December 2006, which they accepted at the end of January 2007, when the organization of the exhibition and fundraising began.
Roma Pavilion News: What are the objectives of the Paradise Lost Pavilion in Venice?
Timea Junghaus: The Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale wants to challenge negative, single-minded stereotypes of Roma, also by broadening their image to include sophisticated contemporary art and the ability to reflect on problems.
Further, the Roma Pavilion wants to establish a connection with the need of governments, the EU and civil society to overcome significant social inclusion problems of Roma.
The Paradise Lost wants to open broader perspectives for the creation, reception and development of contemporary Roma culture.
And last but not least, the pavilion wants to enable contemporary Roma artists to present their work and ideas on a world stage in order to foster a positive sense of identity and stimulate creativity, self-expression and self-confidence
Roma Pavilion News: Some observers criticized the Pavilion as another act of (self) segregation?
Timea Junghaus: Without a dedicated Roma Pavilion, it would be impossible to introduce Roma artists to the international scene, because they do not have access to the necessary infrastructure, as an exhibition place, communication campaign and a contemporary art institution that manages logistics. Thus the Roma Pavilion does not increase the segregation of the Roma (it is not a “cultural ghetto”) when it presents Roma culture outside the framework of national cultures. Of course, in an ideal world the Roma artists could exhibit in any of the European pavilions, but it is a fact that to date no artist of Roma origin has been presented in the 110-year long history of the Venice Biennale.
Roma Pavilion News: How is the Roma Pavilion linked to the Roma Decade?
Timea Junghaus: Highlighting Roma culture complements the objectives of both the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015, of which the World Bank and the European Commission are the Open Society Institute’s partners, and the European Union’s Year of Equal Opportunities for All 2007.
The Roma Decade is one of the institutional supporters of the Pavilion, and they will organize some of the related side events in Venice. We will accord the necessary attention to the culture and artwork of the European Roma artistic community, and thus further the objectives of the Roma Decade.
Roma Pavilion News: This year several media reported about the high costs for those who want to be represented at the Venice Biennale. Who made possible the idea of the Roma Pavilion to become reality?
Timea Junghaus: The initiative is realized thanks to the generous donations of three chief supporters: the Budapest Open Society Institute, the Amsterdam-based European Cultural Foundation and the German Allianz Kulturstiftung. But private individuals have also made their contribution to this important initiative. Other organizations help our work with in-kind support, helping with logistics, the installation of the exhibition and the opening events.
Roma Pavilion News: The exhibition has opened. It created a significant interest of curators, art critics and art-lovers. What now? Will there be any events organized around the exhibition Paradise Lost?
Timea Junghaus:
In the first three weeks The First Roma Pavilion had over 3,000 visitors. This is a big success, given the exhibition is a little apart from the Giardini, the main Biennale area where national pavilions are featured. According to the number of visitors, it is possibly one of the most popular pavilions at the Biennale. The total number of visitors in the Roma Pavilion between June 10th and 30th was 3,100.
The average number of visitors per day in the Roma Pavilion in this period of time was 163, while the average number of visitors per day at the Biennale in the same period was 1663 per day. (source: www.labiennale.org)
The artists and curators of the Roma Pavilion come from eight European countries that have their own pavilions at the Biennale. The curatorial concept aims to introduce the Roma artists to the curators and public of the long-established national pavilions.
We are also planning a number of connecting events, which will include concerts by Roma music bends, round table discussions, film projections, opening a dialogue with the citizens of Venice and the Biennale visitors. Paradise Lost News readers will be first to find out about the time and venue of those events.
Roma Pavilion News: How will Roma cultural life be different once the 52nd Venice Biennale is closed?
Timea Junghaus: The Roma Cultural Program of the Open Society Institute has already explored the possibility of sustaining the presence of Roma art in the discourse of contemporary art and culture by moving the Roma Pavilion’s exhibition to further prestigious locations.
The Pavilion is a step towards creating a sustainable Roma Arts Council. The Roma Arts Council could be the lead body for fundraising, development and advocacy of the arts and culture of Roma. A team of experienced experts could take part in developing sound policy and good practice, including the ability to make links between the intrinsic value of the arts and their instrumental value in delivering social and economic benefits at an international level. The council could also offer a focus on research, information provision and international cooperation.
As the infrastructure for Roma cultural representation is non-existent in Europe, the Roma Arts Council would focus on objectives such as increasing Roma participation in the arts, supporting Roma artists to fulfil their creative and business potential, and placing arts, culture and creativity at the heart of learning.
Roma Pavilion News: Why the title, Paradise Lost?
Timea Junghaus: The title refers to our desire to restore a condition that seems paradisiacal, in which Roma art is an emancipated member of the international arts community.
Roma Pavilion News: How were the exhibiting artists chosen?
Timea Junghaus: The concept of the exhibition is the result of years of research and preparation. We created a database, and in the summer of 2006 we selected from the works of almost fifty European Roma artists included in the database for an album we entitled Meet Your Neighbours – Contemporary Roma Art from Europe.
In November 2006, a workshop was organized in Budapest for those artists who embrace the contemporary paradigm in art. We invited to the workshop, among others, Helena Sadilkova and Jana Horvathova, who work for the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno, and Péter Szuhay, who leads the Roma department of the Museum of Ethnography, Budapest.
We sent the album and the database to the following experts, and requested their opinion and suggestions: Viktor Misiano, art historian, the curator of international arts exhibitions, among them that in the Central Asian Pavilion of the 2005 Venice Biennale; Thomas Acton, professor of Roma studies at the University of Greenwich; Barnabás Bencsik, curator, director of ACAX – Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange; Dragan Klaic, cultural analyst, a writer in the field of European cultural policy; Marketta Seppala, director of Frame Foundation, commissioner of the Scandinavian Pavilion at the 2007 Biennale; and Katalin Székely, art historian and critic.
The list of artists selected for The First Roma Pavilion of the Venice Biennale reflects their contribution too.
Another workshop was then organized in March 2007, in Venice, with the selected artists and the experts as participants.
Upon studying possible venues, the list of works to be exhibited was drawn up, and some of the artists offered to make site-specific works.
Roma Pavilion News: Several leading international media outlets declared that the Roma and African pavilions are the biggest news from this year’s Biennale. Is that why everyone who travels to Venice before the closing on November 21 should visit the Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale?
Timea Junghaus: (Laughing) I don’t know if that statement is true. But I would like to invite everyone to visit the Paradise Lost. I can assure the visitors that they will see works by young, innovative and creative Roma artists, who deserve to be represented at the most prestigious art festival in Europe, and who challenge the prevailing negative attitudes towards the Roma, the false conception that a Roma artist can only be a street musician.
They should come to see that works of the Roma artists from eight European countries speak in a visual language that can be understood worldwide.
The most important intellectual profit of our communication can be the ability to demonstrate that art can challenge and reverse those long-held stereotypes that the Roma suffer from.
Roma Pavilion News: Thank you and all the best.
Timea Junghaus: Thank you!
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