Deaf Gain: Meeting with H-Dirksen L. Bauman

event in International Sign Language, Polish Sign Language and Polish Phonic Language

The installation Languages from Water by Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski is presented in the Polish Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice until 22 November. In order to bring the project closer to the Polish public, we invite you to a series of meetings in Warsaw in autumn.

During a meeting with H-Dirksen L. Bauman, professor of Deaf Studies, we will take a closer look at the concept of Deaf Gain, which treats deafness not as a loss or disability, but as an identity and culture that brings unique perspectives and opportunities to the world. This allows us to perceive deafness not through the prism of lack, but as a source of diversity and social potential, opening up new ways of perceiving the world and relationships between people. We will talk about the unique communication and adaptation strategies developed by Deaf people in a hearing-dominated world — including high spatial awareness and developed visual processing — and how these experiences can inspire new ways of thinking about technology, design or education. We will also look at phonocentric biases that have contributed to the marginalization of sign languages over the years and have influenced (and still affect today) the situation of people who use them. The meeting will be led by co-author of Languages from Water, artist Daniel Kotowski.

Languages from Water is a project in which the critique of phonocentric hierarchies is one of the leading threads. The film features a social Choir in Movement, consisting of hearing and deaf people, using phonic and sign language (International Sign Language). A significant part of the video material was made in an aquatic environment and shows the special advantage of Deaf people: under water they can communicate freely in sign language, while hearing people, who dominate communication on a daily basis, make distorted sounds, lose their privilege of voice. This pivotal reversal of environments from the perspective of the project shows how, in different circumstances, seemingly weaker voices can reveal their power and overall human potential.

More about the interlocutors:

H. Dirksen L. Bauman is Professor of Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University, Washington. Co-editor of the book Deaf Gain. Raising the Stakes for Human Diversity, co-author of Transformative Conversations. Mentoring Communities among Colleagues in Higher Education, editor of Open Your Eyes. Deaf Studies Talking and co-editor and producer of the book and film project Signing the Body Poetic. Essays in American Sign Language Literature. He is currently working on a project in the field of ecopoetics and performance in sign language.

Daniel Kotowski — co-author of the work Languages from Water. Artist and performer. His practice focuses on the Deaf experience, language, communication, bio-governance and biopolitics. In her work, she explores the limits of corporeality and ways of expressing oneself outside the dominant order of speech. He performed and presented his works, among others, at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Zachęta — National Gallery of Art, Studio Theater in Warsaw and Pickle Bar in Berlin.

More about Languages from Water: https://labiennale.art.pl/en/wystawy/jezyki-z-wody/

Text by H-Dirksen L. Bauman, “Speaking with tongues of water.” You will find the ecology of kinship with a more-than-human world from the perspective of Deaf Gain in the publication accompanying the exhibition Languages from Water.

The organizer of the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is Zachęta — National Gallery of Art.

The programme of events accompanying the exhibition Languages from Water was financed by the PKO Bank Polski Foundation.

Poland's participation in the 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia is funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland:

Patron of the Polish Pavilion:

main partner of the exhibition:

partners of the exhibition:

supporting:

Media patrons: