Publications

We Roma: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art inquires into the contemporary moment through the lens of Roma artistic and intellectual practices, gathering knowledge from the Roma way of life. With the emblematic claim in the artistic imaginary “we Roma,” including in it wider society, the reader asks how we can invoke the possibility of a different world and alternative futures. Artists, theorists, writers, and activists—both Roma and non-Roma—speculate on such questions and the possibility of art to imagine the world otherwise.

With contributions by: Albert Atkin (philosopher; Sydney); Huub van Baar (researcher and writer, Amsterdam); Damian James Le Bas (writer, journalist, poet, and filmmaker, Essex) & Delaine Le Bas (artist, various locations across Europe); Zygmunt Bauman (social theorist, Leeds); Ethel Brooks (writer and researcher, New Jersey); Agnes Daróczi (curator and activist, Budapest); Tony Gatlif (film director, actor, composer, and producer, Algiers) & Cécile Kovacshazy (researcher and writer, Limoges) with Alex Lykidis (film theorist, New York); Ian Hancock (Roma linguist, historian, and political advocate, Austin); Sanja Ivekovic (artist, Zagreb); Tímea Junghaus (curator and cultural activist, Budapest); Regina Römhild (cultural anthropologist and curator, Berlin) & Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (curator and writer, Berlin); Salman Rushdie (novelist and essayist, London and New York); and Mike Sell (theorist, Pittsburgh).

Table of contents

We Roma: Notes from a Conversation
Foreword by Daniel Baker and Maria Hlavajova

Reconstruction, Recognition, and Roma
Albert Atkin

Homecoming at Witching Hour: The Securitization of the European Roma and the Reclaiming of Their Citizenship
Huub van Baar

Minister and Ghost
Damian James Le Bas and Delaine Le Bas

Uneasy Cohabitation of the Established and the Outsiders
Zygmunt Bauman

Reclaiming: The Camp and the Avant-Garde
Ethel Brooks

The Birth of Roma Visual Arts­—Hungary, 1979
Ágnes Daróczi

I Am Not Here to Talk About the ‘Gypsy Problem’
Tony Gatlif prompted by Cécile Kovacshazy with Alex Lykidis

Required Reading
Ian Hancock

Yours Is an Optimistic Scenario
Maria Hlavajova and Tìmea Junghaus

Rohrbach Living Memorial
Sanja Ivekovic

The Post-Other as Avant-Garde
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and Regina Römhild

The Real Crime Is Ours
Salman Rushdie

Avant-Garde/Roma: A Critical History of Bohemianism and Cultural Politics
Mike Sell

Colophon

Editors: Daniel Baker and Maria Hlavajova
Associate Editor: Janine Armin
Managing Editor & Research: Gwen Parry
Editorial Assistant: Seyma Bayram
Design: Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht
Published by: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht and Valiz, Amsterdam
Language: English
Pages: 286
ISBN: 978-90-77288-16-0 and 978-90-78088-78-3
Price: € 24

For inquiries or to order a copy of this publication, please send an e-mail to info@bakonline.org.