RomArchive : the Digital Archive of the Roma

Starting in January 2019, RomArchive, the Digital Archive of the Roma, will make the arts and cultures of Roma visible and illustrate their contribution to European cultural history. Through counternarratives told by Roma themselves, RomArchive will create a reliable source of knowledge that will be accessible internationally on the internet to counteract stereotypes and prejudices with facts.

In terms of content, 14 curators define the presentation and select exemplary artistic contributions for the archive sections on dance, film, literature, music, theatre and drama, visual arts, and the interdisciplinary section of flamenco, as well as material on politics of photography, self-testimonies related to the persecution of Roma in National Socialism and scientific material on the civil rights movement. The archive's ever-expanding collection exemplifies the enormous range and diversity of cultural identities and national idiosyncrasies as an integral part of its approach, rather than conveying an unrealistic image of a homogeneous "Romani culture". Here, the wealth of an artistic and cultural production—centuries old, lively and varied to this very day—will become visible and publicly accessible for the first time in such a wide scope.