Lo schermo dell’arte is partner of the project Romanistan by Luca Vitone, promoted by the Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, winner of the fourth edition of the Italian Council (2018), a competition created by the Direzione Generale Arte e Architettura contemporanee and Periferie urbane (DGAAP) of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, to promote Italian contemporary art in the world.
Romanistan is a road trip that Vitone undertakes with a crew formed by Pietro de Tilla, Daniele Gasparinetti, Athos Ghiringhelli, Enrico Manfredini, Elvio Manuzzi, Giovanni Oberti, Gennaro Spinelli and Santino Spinelli, in order to retrace backwards the steps of the Romani migration which started around the eight century from north-western India towards Europe. Starting on the 25th of May 2019 from the city of Bologna, where the document Rerum Italicarum Scriptores dating back to the 18th of July 1422 is conserved, first official evidence of the presence of the Romani people in Italy, the artist will retrace backwards the migration path followed by Roma, Sinti and Kalé and will arrive in India after six weeks.
The title Romanistan comes from the words of Manush Romanov, proponent of the Romani people native of Bulgaria, who imagined the possibility to give rise to a Romani country. “Considering the dimension of diaspora that characterises the cultural unity of this population” states the artist, “tracing back the steps of this migration means to bring to light the fragmented but solid union of such ethnic minority”.
The journey will be a chance to shot a film, which will be presented in November 2019 during the personal exhibition by Luca Vitone at the Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, and at the twelfth edition of Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival.
In collaboration with Il Manifesto, a short travel diary will be published every Friday marking the route. In addition, it will be possible to see the geographical coordinates updated on a daily basis on the artist’s website.
Read Lorenza Pignatti’s interview with Luca Vitone on Il Manifesto, 25th of May 2019.