The Foreigner's Coat: Installation by Livia Marinescu & Ilinca Vânău

5th Sep 13 - 22nd Sep 13

5th Sep 13 - 22nd Sep 13
6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Romanian Cultural Centre in London
Free

Private view | Thursday, 5 September | 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Romanian Cultural Centre in London (RCC), Manchester Square, 18 Fitzhardinge Street, London W1H 6EQ
Admission free(RSVP bookings@romanianculturalcentre.org.uk)

Poster by Simina Neagu

The imminent lifting of the last restrictions on the British labour market applied to Romanians and Bulgarians brings again the issue of immigration into sharp focus. While the British media generally vilifies ‘the other’, a larger debate on multiculturalism is being avoided.
The Foreigner’s Coat aims at deconstructing the media mechanism of labeling Romanians as a homogenous and threatening mass of migrants by focusing on individual stories. Since the conversation about immigration in Britain seems to be stuck today at a macro level, the installation proposes a more personal way of looking at this subject.

Livia Marinescu and Ilinca Vânău have created a series of custom-made coats imprinted with articles from the British press, which they then presented to various members of the Romanian Diaspora in the UK. This installation also includes a series of photographs of Romanian nationals living in Britain, who are affected, in a way or another by this distorted image promoted by the British press.

Facing an inflammatory rhetoric regarding Eastern European migrants, The Foreigner’s Coat, as a community project, draws attention upon the fact that every immigrant living in the UK is part of a wider, inclusive assemblage.

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LIVIA MARINESCU studies towards an MA in Art History at the University of St Andrews. She has an interest in photography, performance and art therapy, which guide her work. Her installation, Unfolding Entrances, featured in the Scottish student art festival On The Rocks, 2013. Livia is currently taking part in a University funded research studentship in Art History.

ILINCA VÂNĂU studies towards an MA in Social Anthropology and Film Studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Ilinca is interested in and inspired by visual art, mainly analogue photography and ethnographic film. For the past two years she has been coordinating and curating exhibitions for Stereoscope Magazine, a publication promoting the University’s photographic archive and student work. Ilinca is also the editor of Ethnographic Encounters, the University’s anthropology e-journal.

Part of Roundtable Projects 2013.
Roundtable Projects is an open platform for cultural projects developed in partnership with the members of the Romanian community in the UK. For more details about this programme please visit our website at
www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk/

The private view is sponsored by Deli Twist - a patisserie serving freshly baked pretzels and pastries and also sweet and savoury twisters.

The exhibition runs until 22 September 2013
Opening hours: Mon – Fri, 11.00 am – 6.00 pm
Admission free

For the photo gallery of this event, please click HERE

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