Museum Night at the Museum of Romany Culture is dedicated to women and playing

This year’s Brno Museum Night at the Museum of Romany Culture is dedicated to women. From 8pm visitors can expect nonstop reading from works by Roma (and non-Roma) female writers Lenka Čenčová, Irena Eliášová, Eva Danišová, Ilona Ferková, Magdalena Gáborová, Jana Hejkrlíková, Iveta Kokyová, Iveta Kováčová, Ema Lásková, Erika Oláhová and Blanka Jakubčíková. A special guest at the readings is the writer and painter Blanche Cutie, who will read from her new collection of poems I’ll Cut my Head Off with a Thorn of Rose. Visitors will also encounter the “feminine theme” in the permanent exhibition of the museum, The Story of the Romany People, where the short films Margita and Lenka and Soňa and her family will be screened.

The subject WOMAN is also explored by the current exhibition called identi_TA. The first section of the exhibition presents works from the museum collections which include a depiction of women or the female body. We will find there images based on an intimate knowledge of life in the Roma community, as well as works elaborating on romantic ideas of Roma women as they developed over centuries and then became ingrained in the minds of the majority of society. According to the common stereotype a Roma woman was portrayed as an exotic being who is unstable in love. Her attributes were frequently very colourful attire, a blouse exposing the shoulders and a low neck line, long, black, untameable hair, as well as bare feet and a tambourine. The second part features contemporary works by the female artists Tamara Moyzes, Tania Magy, Lenka Klodová, Blanka Jakubčíková, Věra Kotlárová, Karolína Kohoutková and Ladislava Gažiová.

During the Brno Museum Night the Museum of Romany Culture provides, as every year, a space for the young and old to play. This year we have arranged for you the Cheeeeese! photography studio, furnished in a style emulating a Roma abode, situated on the second floor of the museum. You will be welcomed by authentic props - just walk in and let yourselves be pampered. You may remain as yourself or be transformed into somebody else using the available fashion accessories. Do you fancy an individual or a group portrait? Cheeeeese! 6pm – 8pm, Children’s Studio, 2nd floor

The Museum of Romany Culture manages a fairly extensive collection of works of art. During the 1990s the collection gave rise to an independent collection of fine art divided into a Roma and non-Roma section. The former charts works of the Roma in all of its modes (amateur, professional), while the latter, although smaller, concentrates on works depicting Romas, their way of life and culture from the point of view of the majority.