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| The Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale |
"She is awarded (the prize) for her great personal commitment in finding ways time and time again to promote the contemporary fine arts of the European Roma beyond existing stereotypes. She also managed to raise public awareness of the Roma's contribution to cultural diversity in Europe," the foundation says on its website.
Junghaus says she plans to use the EUR 75,000 purse that comes with the prize to put together an international collection of Roma art that can be shown in cultural institutions around Europe.
The Roma Pavilion, which debuted with the exhibition Paradise Lost, was set up to give Europe's biggest ethnic minority a place at one of Europe's key cultural events.
"We wanted the exhibition to show that contemporary Roma artists produce world class work. The works of art on display also show the ways in which the artists grapple with their cultural identity. Many of our artists continue to experience historically rooted feelings of inferiority, but the works also hint at the outlines of a stable new identity," Junghaus told the Hungarian News Agency.
"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," Junghaus says on the pavilion's website.
"Thus the Roma Pavilion does not increase the segregation of the Roma...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," Junghaus notes.
The pavilion was part of the Open Society Institute's Roma Culture Participation Project, which Junghaus has headed since 2005.
Junghaus, who is herself Roma, believes that it is time to confront negative stereotypes and exotically romantic misconceptions held about the Roma by the majority society. At the same time, Roma communities around the world should make an attempt to redefine their identity, not by assimilating with their host nation, but by peacefully cohabitating and cherishing native cultures, she says.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / www.romapavilion.org
