feeling appreciated: galeria nowhere @serbia

 

galeria nowhere in front of the townhall of sombor

We know that a small group of creative people can change the world.
In fact, they are the only ones so far, who have done it …
Credo of KleinHouse, our host in Subotica

After a series of spontaneous shows of the Galeria Nowhere travelling exhibition in a field and next to a cemetery in Croatia and in a squat in Slovenia, we arrived in Serbia with an exhibition program professionaly arranged by our friends Biljana and Srdjan (see previous post).
The only downside was that we had to get up at 6 a.m. for the show in Sombor, but the prestigeous location (permit thanks to Kulturni centar Laza Kostic Sombor) in front of the townhall more than made up for it. Upsides there were plenty; great audience (a lot of!), great spots, press, tv and more... plus a very rewarding feeling of being appreciated by people who invest themselves into alternativ arts and culture much the way we do. Actually we were made to feel much like the small creative group of people mentioned in KleinHouse's credo above.

Here are two links with more pictures of the exhibition in Subotica.
Galeria Nowhere @ KleinHouse on HétNap (photos: Szerda Zsófi)
and on GradSubotica

very open & interested people

@ KleinHouse, subotica

great audience

one interview after the other

coffe & cake as usual

galeria nowhere in front of KleinHouse

exhibition view

our host at KleinHouse, #likeminded

night show @the canal, sombor

    thanks also to the Austrian Cultural Forum of Belgrade for their support!

feeling welcome: biljana and srdjan

I haven't seen my serbian friends Srdjan and Biljana in over 5 years. I got to know them around 2008, we became very good friends and they helped me a lot. After 2010 the Nomadic Village was more west-bound and I felt sad that it didn't allow me to neither visit my friends Srdjan and Biljana, nor Serbia, a place that from the beginning felt like a second home to me. But in 2015 we managed to come back.

Immediately after I talked to Biljana about coming for June 2015 with the Galeria Nowhere, she started getting busy organising us places to show our travelling exhibition. Her support was amazing, and it resulted in 3 amazing shows (more soon).

The best thing was meeting them again! It made clear why I had missed them: The most considerate and generous hosts, a laid back atmosphere, Srdjan's beautiful house and garden, the cutest dogs ever, and the mutual feeling of being welcome and appreciated. Finally the much sought after place to relax & enjoy for a bit!
Being supportive of our project seems to be the most natural thing to them, something we have learned to value as something very precious!

Thank you Biljana and Srdjan, and we will definatly be back next year!

nomadic village workshop, talk and discussion @ cmak

the captain on his way to cmak

for Wednesday Nomadic Village brought two small programs to CMAK:

Captain Klaus on freestyle analog colour-photography
We took a group portrait of all the attendends with an old school wooden large format camera and
developed the colour negative with a very simple set up.
The aim of this performance is to show that it can be quite simple to work on film, even in colour.
In the next days, Captain Klaus will make a print of the negative in his mini mini darkroom in the caravan.
Everybody is invited to drop by and have a look and an introduction to printing.

Anna Lipphardt on Artists and Mobility in Europe
From fighting for freedom of movement and expression to paving the way for neo-liberalism.

followed by a short introduction to the Nomadic Village by Captain Klaus

followed by a very interesting discussion about the theme: To what extend we are part of these dynamics, and how we can counteract them?

introducing the magic of a large format camera

the magic

quick & dirty developement set up

and voila, the negative

very interesting discussion with anna lipphardt, small but dangers and cmak

travellers & the church

article by Anna Lipphardt 

anna in the middle of the nomadic kitchen

(teaches Cultural Anthropology at the University of Freiburg where she also directs the research group Cultures of Mobility in Europe)

Because the NOMADIC VILLAGE this year happens to be located right next to St. Anna Church in Cerkno, here are some spotlights on the complex interrelations of travelers and church. While alternative travelers come mostly from subcultural, leftist milieus and are thus rather antagonistic or indifferent to all things religious, though some take religiously inspired good luck charms onto the road.

For traditional travelers, that is circus people and travelling show people, puppeteers or market vendors, religion is very important, in many spheres of their lives. Their experiences and practices in respect to the church open surprising perspectives on the interrelation of mobile and sedentary members of society, as well as on the question what constitutes a community. 

good luck charms in the cars of former and current nomadic village inhabitants

In regular, local communities, members go to church, a prominent building in the center of the village or town, with the priest holding a position of great social power. The local priest is usually the first person to go to for travelers arriving at a new place, because of the church’s doctrine to provide support to everyone in need.  In Germany, as in a number of other European countries, the Catholic and the Protestant Church have both established specific mobile units providing pastoral care to occupational travelers (for more see here and here). Instead of community members coming to the church, these priests travel within a specific district to meet their community members, wherever these set up their shows or attractions. Instead of using a local church, religious services are held on the premises that serve as the temporary work space and home base, in an auto scooter or circus tent temporarily converted into a church. With this constellation the power relation between priest and community changes radically. First of all, while local communities are stuck with their priest, for good or bad, travelers can decide to accept a priest into their community – or not. It is the priest who is the outsider who has to earn the trust of his/her constituency. Priests who have worked with both types of communities, say it takes 1 to 2 years to get accepted by local residents, but between 5 to 7 years to be really let in by travelers. If one has gained their acceptance though, the encounters with community members – which take place with long temporal intermissions in-between – tend to be much more immediate and cordial, and extend far beyond purely religious affairs. In fact, the travelling priests today often assume an important position as lobbyists and interlocutors, mediating between local authorities or individual local residents on the one hand and travelers on the other.

For many travelers it not to so important, if a Catholic or a Protestant priest marries them or baptizes their kids, and for some of the priests this confessional division also does not seem to be crucial. One protestant priest, who has worked with travelers for over 20 years, has e.g. adopted the baptism ritual – instead of declaring a baptized child, a new member of the Protestant Church, he declares: “You are now a member of the Travelling Community.” (“Du bist jetzt ein Mitglied der Reisenden Gemeinde.”) Way to go for the rest of the Church…  

If you want to learn more, check out the Research Project on Pastoral Carefor Travelers @ Uni Tübingen.

tinski's working materials