SIGNING/SINGING // Autoritratto in 3 atti

In SIGNING/SINGING, the Deaf artist Daniel Kotowski presents a choreography of the struggle for the equality of languages and visibility.

In everyday life, Daniel Kotowski mainly uses Polish Sign Language instead of verbal language to communicate. In his performance, he deals with the appropriation of sign language by contemporary art. The hearing art scene often interprets sign language as a purely aesthetic means of expression that is nice to look at. Daniel Kotowski investigates this kind of fetishisation and in SIGNING/SINGING shows how different groups excluded from society are fighting to reclaim their visibility. He combines choreographic gestures with different sign languages, switching roles and emotions in seconds, sometimes an artist, sometimes a speaker, sometimes angry, sometimes mocking. SIGNING/SINGING never ends, just as the struggle to be seen and respected never ends either.

The empowering lecture performance Self-Portrait in Three Acts tells the story of Diana Anselmo’s lived experience as a Deaf person and allows us to gain deep insight into the reality of the lives of stigmatised people. The central theme is the power of the gaze. Diana Anselmo examines the gaze from three different angles: starting with the pitying, unasked for, voyeuristic gaze from outside, which the disabled person is forced to deal with, Diana Anselmo then looks at a person’s own, appropriate gaze at themselves and finally at the self-determined gaze of those who tell their own stories. This results in plural and collective perspectives, supported by a manifesto by Al.Di.Qua., the first European association to advocate for the rights of disabled artists led by disabled artists themselves.

The artist, performer and Deaf Daniel Kotowski lives in Warsaw. His artistic practice is the starting point for reflection on forms of existence. He observes experiences and interpersonal relationships as well as the way we are perceived by other individuals. His works often refer to the concept of biopower and biopolitics. He is particularly interested in the categories of "completeness" and "incompleteness", their ambivalence and the potential they harbor.

Diana Anselmo is a Deaf performer, author and activist. Growing up bilingual with Italian Sign Language (LIS) and Italian spoken language, Diana Anselmo debuted in 2021 during the Master's degree in Theater and Performing Arts with the performance Autoritratto in 3 atti, which is still touring at various international festivals. In 2022 Diana Anselmo took part in Le Sacre du Printemps by Saša Asentić and Xavier Le Roy. Diana Anselmo is a founding member of Al.Di.Qua., the first association in Europe by and for disabled artists, for whom they have participated as a speaker at various European festivals.