On the 16th May – Roma Resistance Day – Roma organisations from all over the world will come together in Berlin to discuss the most pressing issues faced by Roma communities today.

You can follow the Congress live in the original language and in translation via our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ROMADNESSStrangeMovies/streams

Further information on the congress: www.worldromacongress.org

Exhibition Venue

Kai Dikhas Foundation and Dikhas Due Art Space, Prinzenstr. 84.2, 10969 Berlin

Opening: May 16 – 8.00pm – 2023 

Duration: May 17 – June 17 – 2023 

DAMIAN LE BAS . MAPPING RESISTANCE
An exhibition on the occasion of the World Roma Congress Berlin 2023
 
Damian Le Bas was a flower seller, Royal College of Arts graduate, artist, DJ, Roma and visionary of a free world. When he died in 2017, he left an impressive body of work. For the Kai Dikhas Foundation, Damian Le Bas is a central position in its program and collection. Le Bas tirelessly opposed the often hostile world with his art. Together with his artist colleague, the French gitano Gabi Jiménez, he coined the term “Gypsy DaDa”, which, in accordance with the anti-bourgeois Dadaism of the 20th century, uses Damian Le Bas’s own humor to defend himself against racism and forms of oppression. Damian Le Bas had a penchant for collecting objects and maps, from which he made his now famous magnificent collages. While maps are mostly created to show borders and define territories and countries over which bloody battles have often been fought for centuries, Le Bas uses them as the background for his collages. Faces, figures, ideas and found objects overgrow his cards weightlessly. In his art, which he created with his wife and artistic partner Delaine Le Bas in large, expansive installations, stage sets and performances such as “Safe European Home?” or “Frontier de Luxe”, his “Gypsyland” becomes reality. His art shows a world as it would be possible: without struggles, borders or illegality of people. The seemingly playful approach of painting over maps manifests a political claim. Le Bas shows us that the whole world is “Gypsyland” which is an important finding in relation to a people who have no territory to call their own. Le Bas’ art is both: simply art and also activism. His maps do not document a given territory, they create a new country. It is this inspiring power of his art that makes Damian Le Bas a role model for many Roma activists and makes his works icons of a movement. The exhibition takes place on the occasion of the World Roma Congress 2023, which will be held in Berlin for the first time and will bring together Roma representatives from all over the world in this city. As a means of resistance, art and culture have always closely accompanied the political movement of the Roma. This time, too, they will be the incentive, motivation and manifesto of the congress. that no territory can call its own is an important finding. Le Bas’ art is both: simply art and also activism. His maps do not document a given territory, they create a new country. It is this inspiring power of his art that makes Damian Le Bas a role model for many Roma activists and makes his works icons of a movement.  Moritz Pankok 

Damian LeBas
LeBa’s Gypsy Political Map of the World (This is Gypsyland 2014)2014
Collage and felt-tip pen on map 127×86 cm

 

 

2022

World Congress Art Selection

(Gabi Jiménez)

Commissioned Art

(Klára Lakatos)

Archive Exhibition
Artist’s Gallery

(Robert Czibi)

Educational Gallery

(Romano Glaszo)

About Us

On the 8th of April 2021 we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the groundbreaking 1st World Romany Congress which took place in London in 1971 and which has been a milestone of the International Romany Movement. Arts and Culture have been a strong inspiration for the political movement of Sinti and Roma and continue to play an essential role as a form of civic expression as well as a strategy of emancipation and cultural resistance.

This exhibition was curated by Beverley Carpenter (Oblique Arts, UK) and Mortiz Pankok (Stiftung Kai Dikhas). A physical exhibition was held at the 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning gallery space in South London. September 27 to October 03. The exhibition tours to Germany to the gallery of the Foundation Kai Dikhas, Aufbau Haus am Moritzplatz PrinzenStraße 84.2  10969 Berlin. From October 22nd to November 27th.

Now here are five online galleries: – The curator’s selection includes sculptures, paintings, drawings and photography from Damian Le Bas, Imrich Tomáš, Gérard Gartner and other artists who have produced iconic works. -The Commissioned Artworks gallery shows works that were selected by a jury from Europe wide applications. Klára Lakatos, George Vasilsescu and 8 further artist’s work. Jurers: Beverley Carpenter, Moritz Pankok, Isaac Blake (Romani Cultural and Arts Company) and Miguel Angel Vargas (ERIAC).

-The Archive Gallery introduces viewers to Melanie Spitta, filmmaker and important historical figures in Roma history. -The Artist’s Gallery contains work from Bogumila Delimata, from Poland and József Ferkovics from Hungary, among others. -Finally there is an Educational Gallery where there is work from organisations such as the BUDAÖRSI TANODA Foundation in Budapest.

Opening event
May 16 8.00pm
Email
romanyjubilee@kaidikhas.com
Full April 8th program
romanistan.com

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