Romania in 1990: The brutal attack by hired groups of thuggish miners on the pro-European opposition
Mineriada by Anton Roland Laub addresses the division of a society that led Romania into a decade of isolation. The starting point are ten Polaroids taken by his father depicting the havoc in Bucharest in June 1990. The work examines the sites of the events and the unspoken trauma of the physical violence when hired groups of thuggish miners brutally bludgeoned the pro-European opposition. Building on research into legal discourse, Laub raises awareness of recursive events in history in a world that is once again increasingly polarized.
Following Mobile Churches (2017) and Last Christmas (of Ceaușescu) (2020), Mineriada is the third part of Anton Roland Laub's Romania trilogy, published by Kehrer Verlag.
About the Author
Born and brought up in Bucharest, Anton Roland Laub lives and works in Berlin. He received an MA degree from the Weißensee Art Academy in Berlin, Germany. Previously, he completed his studies at the New School for Photography, Berlin, and graduated from the media and communication science department at the University of Bucharest. In his research-based practice, Laub engages with subversive approaches in decoding reality constructions and phantoms of power. His recent monographs, both published by Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, address the contemporary history of Romania, as well as the legacy of the dictatorship.
Lotte Laub is a Berlin-based curator and arts writer. She obtained her PhD at the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies at the Freie Universität, Berlin. She has been working for Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul/Berlin since 2016 and is currently the gallery director of the Berlin location.
Sonia Voss (b. 1978, Paris) is an independent curator. Her field of interests include historical or patrimonial photography as well as contemporary artists, from France and abroad and particulary in Germany. She regularly edits publications and writes as a contributing author. She lives in Paris and Berlin.
