A rumor may be true, or it may be false. In either case, as it spreads,
it works on the public imagination and creates patterns of thinking
and behavior. It Is Rumored That … Roma Refugees Centre is a proposed
(but unrealized) intervention in the urban space of Hull, England,
that continues Daniel G. Andújar’s long-running involvement with
the Gypsy population in Europe and the xenophobic stigmatization
of this minority as “the others.” By means of the concept of the
rumor and by “using the City as media,” the intervention aimed to
create a simulated image of a different reality in which the rampant
discrimination of Gypsies is replaced by the open-minded politics of
“a solidarity-based community.” The rumor in question was that the
largest refugee center for Gypsies in Europe was going to be built
in Hull. TTTP distributed the rumor through the media and on a
huge billboard placed in the urban environment. The rumor was false
—a simulation—but nevertheless pointed to an actual reality in Hull
and to the equally actual possibility of changing this reality. The written
material that was supposed to accompany the intervention states,
“simulation creates emotions that reality does not reach.” Besides
the billboards the intervention consisted of a number of public computer
terminals placed around the city. Citizens could use them to
answer an extensive questionnaire for what was presented as a social
research project. The questionnaire, a format TTTP used in several
projects at the time, focused on racism and the perception of “others,”
especially Gypsies. As such, the intervention emphasized the need to
recognize the Gypsy minority and allow them to be integrated into
society without having to abandon their cultural specificity.