Romanistan is the story of the journey Vitone made to retrace, from Bologna to Chandigarh, the route the Roma and Sinti people took from northwest India to Italy. Tracing a migration that occurred between the 8th and 14th centuries, the artist explores an interest, namely the Romani culture. Vitone’s research has concentrated on the concept of nomadism and the identity of ethnic minorities through an analysis of his cultural productions – from art to cartography, architecture, music and food – as elements that encourage awareness among people and different cultures. The account of the Roma migration route becomes a tool for a broader reflection on the idea of place and travel, community, tradition, and the perpetuation of social clichés and stigma. The journey back to the origins of the Roma people is represented through an external gaze that goes beyond the stereotypes with which the Roma are commonly associated, focusing instead on representing the intellectual bourgeoisie through encounters with political personalities, social activists, academics. For Vitone, the Roma population represents a modern and transnational ideal of a population, almost becoming a forerunner, even in light of the current mass migrations.
The project is promoted by Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato.
