"Unter Wasser sind wir Gehörlosen freier"
Artists Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski have been selected to represent Poland at the upcoming Venice Biennale with their collaborative project, "Liquid Tongues." The exhibition features elaborate video works that draw parallels between the ancient, complex vocalizations of whales and the visual communication of sign language. By filming underwater, the duo explores an environment where the traditional sensory advantages of hearing people are neutralized, and the gestural fluency of the Deaf community becomes a primary mode of connection.
This project matters because it challenges the marginalization of the Deaf community in Poland and the broader art world by framing sign language as a sophisticated, resilient form of communication akin to nature's oldest languages. By utilizing the underwater setting as a "utopia" where social hierarchies are inverted, the pavilion addresses contemporary Polish politics regarding accessibility and linguistic recognition while pushing the boundaries of how interspecies and intercultural communication are understood in a contemporary art context.