Special Edition: Small Talks Explorations of Now #7

In the last episode of Small Talks, Benjamin Pohlig meets writer and publisher Fred Taikon who has devoted his entire life to activism been an important voice for the Roma people in Sweden. A large part of his work has been to spread knowledge about the roma language, culture, and life. During Explorations of Now, Fred Taikon shared his experiences, and the history of nomadism, how nomads lived, travelled, and supported themselves in the past.”The Roma people have been nomads since emigrating from India. During their travel, they have had different types of tents to live in. To make it easier to move from different places, they have had tents that were easy to set up. Some Romas had an animal pulling a cart, or a trolley. Some had donkeys on which they loaded their necessities.Many people ask, why do these people travel around? Some thought that the Romas thought it was romantic and that they wanted a camp life. But that was not the case, the Romas had to support themselves. And the work they performed they found on the roads. All Romas were craftsmen of various kinds. Many of them were coppersmiths and blacksmiths, which meant that they tinned copper vessels and made plows and other tools for farmers. In recent times, the Romas practiced a so-called ”Spilo”. Where they played and danced for a paying audience, the women were often fortune tellers.” – Fred TaikonExplorations of Now is a collaborative project between Cullberg, Kultivator and The Institute for Future Studies, and funded by the Postcode Foundation. 12-15, 19-22 August 2021.