Hong Chang Andy Duan

Sunken Theatre

Oral History (re)narrated for the Romanis

Romani people, although little spoken about or heard from, have been a nonnegligible community in Paris throughout its history. Known for being nomadic, their transience and lack of written language has made preserving their community history difficult. As time passes, these histories are slowly being forgotten.

The Sunken Theatre is a place for story telling. Inspired by the direct oral nature of Romani culture, it offers facilities for recording and physical archiving of community history. Through in-house editing, the pieces of history can be stitched together and told to a wider audience. While the physical copies of the histories are kept, the stories themselves remain nomadic.