BUILDING TOGETHER

Admin — 2009-07-20T20:09:59+01:00

Roma Gypsy Survival Strategies

camilla — 2009-05-19T23:00:00+01:00

Download the program�� Download the brochure

Dear Lucy,

Thank you for an excellent seminar !.

FROM
LORRAINE MITCHELL,
DESIGNER/TEACHER.
( TEACHING Travellers fashion ).
r.mitchell5@ukonline.co.uk.

From the invisible to the exotic: Culture Power presentation on the public perception of the Roma Gypsy ghetto

Nicola DS — 2009-05-19T01:05:27+01:00

From the Invisible to the Exotic
the public perception of the Roma Gypsy ghetto

a Culture Power presentation
by Catalin Berescu, Alexander Valentino, and guests

Friday 26 June 2009
19.00-21.00, The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre
Manchester Square, 18 Fitzhardinge Street, London W1H 6EQ; Tel. 020 7486 0295, ext. 108
Entry is free but booking is essential. Book now at bookings@romanianculturalcentre.org.uk.

Hosted by Dr Mike Phillips OBE, British novelist, historian and curator.

Following their presence in the Roma Gypsy Survival Strategies series of events at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the London College of Fashion (see details below), architects Catalin Berescu and Alexander Valentino, and their guests bring images and stories from Romania, for an honest discussion on the subject of the Roma Gypsy ghetto.

The Roma Gypsy are probably one of the most widely known but misunderstood communities around. From the fiery rhythms of their music to their perceived way of living and spirit of independence, the Roma have always exerted a fascination on the city dwellers in the West from artists, writers and musicians to New Age travellers, bringing the proliferation of Gypsy-style or Gypsy-inspired music, the so-called bohemian fashion or boho-chic, and the enduring myth of boundless freedom.

Yet the people who provided the inspiration for these fashions remain most of the times an exotic enigma, and it seems almost nobody wants to exchange exoticism for harsh reality. The vision of the Roma Gypsy nomadic way of life is too attractive, so many fail to notice the poverty in which the vast majority of the Roma live. They occupy a real Archipelago of Poverty, as one Romanian architect put it collections of shacks and dilapidated buildings in urban and rural areas. In striking opposition to the shaggy, crumbling outdoors, the interiors are usually unexpectedly colourful and neat. The houses are under continuous construction or reconstruction, swiftly and pragmatically adapted to the scarce resources available.

Bearing testimony to the tenacity and inventiveness of the Roma Gypsy ghetto, this discussion hopes to offer answers to how the invisible and the exotic can be translated in terms of real policies addressing real problems.

* * * * * * *
The guests from Romania in the Roma Gypsy Survival Strategies event are writer and Delia Grigore (writer, philologist, academic and Roma rights activist), anthropologist Vasile Ionescu, sociologist Florin Botonogu, and architect Catalin Berescu. Special guest is architect Alexander Valentino. They will make a series of presentations in a seminar taking place at the London College of Fashion, on Tuesday 23 June 2009. Details on www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/events/52693.htm
On Thursday 25 June, all the guests will be present at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the closing event of the exhibition EU-Roma Dwelling. Details here.

// // // // // // // //

Culture Power is a programme initiated by the Ratiu Foundation, consisting of a number of presentations and constructive dialogue with an invited audience.
Organised by The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London
www.ratiufamilyfoundation.com; www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk

Image above �© Catalin Berescu
�// // // // // // // //

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London
Manchester Square, 18 Fitzhardinge Street, London W1H 6EQ; Tel. +44 20 7486 0295; Fax: +44 20 7486 0307
E-mail: mail@romanianculturalcentre.org.uk, Web site: www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

PLEASE REDIRECT THIS MESSAGE TO ALL INTERESTED

EU-RoMa Naples Exhibition Preview

alexander — 2009-05-18T16:14:48+01:00

Emergenze Rom

alexander — 2009-04-18T23:18:15+01:00

Next 23 April 2009 the EU-ROMA team represented by Mr. Alexander Valentino Mr. Pietro Nunziante of Laboratorio Architettura Nomade (LAN) will give a talk on the EU-ROMA project presenting an overview of the living condition in Italy, UK, Romania and Greece.

The project will be presented in the frame of a one-day event entitled Emergenza Rom? Research experiences on several Italian and European Shanty Towns. The event is organized by the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Polytechnic of Milan will take place in Milan, via Ampére 22 (MM2 fermata Piola, Tram 23).

The conference is structured in two main sessions: the Roma living condition in the Social Research and From research to policies for the Roma settlements. The EU-ROMA team will share experiences with other key speakers and experts participating such as Dr. Antonio Tosi, who curates the conference organization and collaborated in EU-ROMA action 1 and 2. The event will conclude with the projection of the film Via San Dionigi 93 Storia di un campo Rom. The film will be introduced by the film makers Mr. Tonino Curagi and Ms. Anna Gorio. For further details see the flyers below.

Action 2

maria p. — 2009-03-28T23:35:55+01:00

Building Together

alexander — 2009-03-22T12:41:44+01:00

TVR Romania

alexander — 2009-02-12T14:00:59+01:00

http://www.tvr.ro/articol.php?id=49258&c=47

programme workshop Bucharest 19-26.10.2008

irina — 2008-10-08T17:14:38+01:00

EUropean ROma MApping
research project on Roma housing developments in Europe

November 2007 – July 2009

„ROMA(nia). Between Severe and Extreme Poverty”
International workshop, Bucharest,19-26.10.2008

Seleziona file" alt="" />

MTR: Romanian Peasant Museum , Council Room; http://www.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/
UAUIM: University of Architecture and Urban Planning “Ion Mincu” Bucharest ; http://www.iaim.ro
ATU: Association for Urban Transition; http://www.atu.org.ro/
MNAC: National Museum for Contemporary Art; http://www.mnac.ro

Map(happening) Roma Cultural Environment in Naples

alexander — 2008-07-14T20:50:20+01:00

20-26 July 2008 Design Workshop on architectural/spatial needs of Roma within their current living situations with the production of intercultural exchange and mutual recognition of identity issues.

EU-ROMA - Shack and the City - New Poverty in and out of Eastern Europe

alexander — 2008-07-04T23:57:55+01:00

XXIII UIA World Cogress Turin - Special Session - EU_ROMA -

shack and the city

irina — 2008-06-25T16:55:37+01:00

SHACK AND THE CITY

NEW POVERTY IN AND OUT OF EASTERN EUROPE

ORDER OF ROMANIAN ARCHITECTS

UIA CONGRESS TORINO 2008

COPENHAGEN HALL 01.07 TUESDAY 9:00 AM

The urban, fast growing communities in extreme poverty are collateral casualties of the collapse of the centralised authoritarian regime. The inconsistencies of economic transition and inadequate social policies are there to enhance the process. So, where the architects’ and the architecture’s mission fits into such a picture?

lettera all'Agenzia Esecutiva della CE (EACEA)

Nicola DS — 2008-05-28T18:41:05+01:00

La lettera è stata indirizzata all'Agenzia Esecutiva della CE (EACEA) per portare a conoscenza del clima di ostruzionismo, razzismo e discriminazione che impedisce, blocca e segrega il dialogo culturale con i Rom, particolarmente a Roma, dove la polizia ostacola, intimidesce e proibisce l'accesso e la documentazione delle condizioni di vita dei campi nomadi nella capitale.

download

EU-ROMA in Rome News#01

francesca — 2008-05-27T12:19:06+01:00

EU-ROMA IN ROME

lan – laboratorio architettura nomade

During 8 days, between 24th and 31st of May, it will be held in Rome the first international
workshop of the European Roma Mapping. The workshop is an integral part of the EU-ROMA
project, financed by the Programme Culture 2007 of the European Commision. EU-ROMA is an
initiative on a period of 21 months, that promotes the European confrontation on the issue of Roma
housing and public space. EU-ROMA mobilises and fertilises mutual multidisciplinary experiences
and knowledge coming from different fields like urbanism, architecture, arts, sociology and human
rights. The roman workshop is the first one of a sequence of four events to be held subsequently
also in Bucharest, Athens and London. The project gathers the four cultural organisations assisted
by the cooperation of the associated partners, in order to promote the intercultural dialogue with
the Roma communities on issues and necessities like sustainable, affordable, consistent and
inclusive conditions of dwelling.

more informations:

EU-ROMA in Rome International Workshop

francesca — 2008-05-14T19:40:44+01:00

"GEOlanDESIGN with Roma Kalderasha of Turin"

Admin — 2008-04-03T12:14:54+01:00

Workshop for the recovery and documentation of the traditions of Roma Kalderasha Turin.

In the proposal stage, for Torino Geodesign, our objective was to work with Roma communities. After our first contact with them and especially after meeting a few of the Kalderasha artisans, the original aim of designing an object for and with the community was diverted towards the idea of working with their knowledge. Importance was therefore placed on the vanishing knowledge of the community, and the idea of bringing new value to the Kalderasha’s creative skills.

The word Kalderasha derives from the Romanian kelderas, and is a variation in dialect of kelderar, which means someone who makes boilers and other similar metal containers. In fact, the Kalderasha traditionally dedicated themselves to the art of metalworking.
Alaga and Bahto, the two artisans involved in the workshop, have lived in Turin since 1969, and in the past worked together producing wood stoves, which were bought by the Roma communities. Due to a crisis in the production of handicrafts, iron and copper work, Alaga and Bahto gave up this type of production about ten years ago. Now, they collect and re-utilize old iron objects, and only sporadically do they make small objects out of copper.

For this reason we decided to reunite the two old workmates, during the one-week experience of the workshop, to work with them and design two prototypes of wood and/or carbon stoves. This way memories reemerged of their past work as artisans and of the objects, which require their particular skills, handed down by their respective fathers, to produce. Alaga e Bahto bend iron as though they were folding origami paper. Their stoves are designed in a way that is similar to die cutting systems. Hardly anything remains of the original sheets of metal, with the remnants they make the circular hotplates in cast iron and the iron supports. The metal is joined not by welding but by wedging the pieces together, folding the metal and beating in nails. Everything is made by hand using simple utensils such as scissors, hammers and anvils.

After studying the models and possible variations in shape of the stoves, the recovery of the parts in cast iron (hotplates and rings) determined the size of the prototypes. The workshop concluded in the courtyard-lawn of the public housing estate in Falchera, in front of the Alaga depot, where the stove-making had transformed the public space into a real workshop with children and grandchildren all participating. The workshop represented an educational vehicle at the disposal of the whole community, where pieces of ancient and forgotten knowledge could be reunited and exchanged. The worksite developed along with moments of conviviality, establishing different ways of combining times for working, learning and doing, thus creating a link between past and future generations and reconstructing a non-alienated esthetic and social collective notion.

For Turin Geodesign we proposed to work with the Roma community. After initial contacts, especially the meeting with some craftsmen kalderasha, has chosen to work on knowing precisely dispersed community then we oriented to give new value to their creative abilities of Kalderasha.

The word comes from Kalderasha Romanian kelderas, is a dialectal variant of kelderar,'calderaio" which means one who makes boilers and similar vessels in metal. The Kalderasha traditionally dedicated to the arts of metal.

Alaga and Bahto, the two craftsmen involved in the laboratory, live in Turin since 1969, in the past have worked together, producing wood stoves that the Roma community purchased; crisis with the industry and work in iron and copper, from about ten years had stopped such production. Now I am committed to the cycle of collection and recovery of materials in iron, and only sporadically engage in processing of small objects in copper.

It was therefore decided to convene, in the experience of weeks laboratory, the two old comrades working together to achieve two prototypes of wood stoves and / or coal. They re-emerged as the memories of their past by artisans and items for the production of which possess a particular skill, tramandatagli by their fathers.
Alaga and Batho bend the iron as if it were origami paper, their stoves have a design that follows a model for implementing similar systems fustellatura. Of the original sheets sheet remains unused just material, the circular plates of iron and iron supports were recovered from scrap materials. The processing does not provide solder joints but, folds and chiodature ribattute. The modalities for implementation occurs throughout with simple hand tools as scissors, hammer and anvil.

After the study on models and variations possible forms of stove, the recovery of shares cast iron (plates and rings) has determined the size for making prototypes. The workshop ended in a grass-court houses popular Falkera, in front of the shed-deposit Alaga, where the processing of stoves has transformed the public space in a real yard participated, which was attended by children and grandchildren . The shipyard has been a vehicle available to the educational community, a place where they met and exchanged sapienze ancient knowledge and removed. The site has been developed simultaneously with moments of conviviality, creating different ways to combine the time of work, time and the dell'apprendere do, realizing the link between past and future generations and rebuilding an imaginary aesthetic and social alienated.

read me

Map(happening) at La Monachina 11-22 feb 2008

Admin — 2008-02-21T00:02:41+01:00

Feb 2008, over a 12-day period, we visited the camp called Monachina. Our initial plan of action was very general: to participate in this work at a camp in Rome. Our interpretation of “participation” and “documentation” evolved very quickly once we arrived at Monachina.
“Camp” is too brutal a word for Monachina, which is really a community, a village, made up of a large extended family originally from the ex-Yugoslavia, Montenegro. More than anything else, what we began to understand in our time there is what the overused term “community” means: the ways in which a group of people living together over time organize their common space(s), develop routines and rituals, ways of working out or living with differences, and improve their conditions. What looked chaotic to us at first began to reveal its various logics as we spent more time there, walking and talking Invisible contracts take form in the shape of a road or the place someone parks. Aesthetic pleasure -- plants and flowers, paint, pictures and ornaments, proper edging around a window – is also part of the conditions of everyday life, and it matters, a lot. We learned about these things at Monachina and our ideas about documentation adapted accordingly. The map of social relations as they flow across space became at least as important as the flow of water or electricity across space. In fact we saw how the two are intimately related in a place where access to resources must be negotiated.
“Autogestione” is the word we heard over and over at Monachina, a word somewhere between “do-it-yourself” and “self-determination”. Over a period of 14 years, small wooden houses (barraca, which translates roughly to “shack”) have been built and rebuilt many times by their owners, each time getting larger (or smaller, as the case may be), each time getting better. Things improve as one learns from previous errors, but also as skills develop and as the network of resources available gets bigger and denser, a network which includes builders who drop off used windows or doors they’d otherwise have to pay to dump. When houses are knocked down by their owners (“buttar’ giu’” is what they say at Monachina) they are disassembled for reusable pieces. But beyond the houses themselves there are spaces for laundry and for showers, for outdoor cooking, for parking and for informal piazzas. Some of these spaces are formed by roulettes, campers of different sizes, which are usually used as additional bedrooms. (Bedroom – the usual typologies do not quite work here. We need new language.) As roulettes move, so do spaces. Though the residents of Monachina are no longer nomadic, there is an element of movement and transition present in the camp, a freedom to rearrange and change which is made possible by mobile living spaces. We came to see more and more the creativity that is present in the ongoing recycled, do-it-yourself, make-do “autogestito” design work of Monachina. And the strength and inner resoucefulness needed for “autogestione.” How did you learn to do all this [electricity, water, construction, motor vehicle repair, never mind cooking)?” I asked Breno. “You need to know, you find out. If you keep your eyes open, you learn constantly. I’m always looking, and when I see something done well, something I can learn from, I file it away mentally.”
Our ideas about participation changed too, as the time we’d planned for “documentation” became time spent talking endlessly across a multitude of languages, gestures, drawings, or drinking endless cups of delicious coffee, or being taught how to make that coffee, or being fed, or playing with kids who gave us no choice in the matter, or becoming interview subjects ourselves, having the camera turned around on us …
We were welcomed with a kindness and generosity that amazed us. People whose everyday life is a struggle, who themselves were not able to go to school, said, “Of course, this is a good learning experience for students.” We went from “gypsies” to “the Roma” and then to Saltana, Marco, Breno, Vera, Leonardo, Veronica … To our hosts gratitudine infinita.
We believe that our mapping and documentation (however brief) is in itself a sign of respect for Monachina, for the work of its residents, for the continuous struggle, and the creativity, of its “autogestione”. We believe and we hope that others feel as well that the work is itself a recognition of the values, and value, of Monachina.
In addition to the work as an offering of friendship and respect, we hope it will be further useful, at various organizational levels, to help support and defend the rights of the residents of Monachina.

Karen Bermann 21 febbraio 2008 Rome

flyer map(happening) rome 01/03

alexander — 2008-02-08T16:46:17+01:00