One Gesture
Wojtek ZiemilskiHere is one thing that fascinates me: I don't know how to talk about it. My words seem clumsy and awkward. The language I use seems inadequate to describe sign languages and the world of the Deaf in general.
Here is one thing that fascinates me: I don't know how to talk about it. My words seem clumsy and awkward. The language I use seems inadequate to describe sign languages and the world of the Deaf in general.
To give some substance to my words, let me cite a number of truisms from the collection Truisms by Jenny Holzer, an American neoconceptual artist. These phrases seem the simplest thing there is. Until you look at them from the standpoint of sign language:
Listen when your body talks.
People who don’t work with their hands are parasites.
Words tend to be inadequate.
Description is more important than metaphor.
Abstraction is a type of decadence.
You are responsible for constituting the meaning of things.
One Gesture is a show about sign languages. It is a show about communicating with the world - with the world of the hearing and with the world of the other Deaf. How does communication work? How are knowledge, emotion and culture transmitted, produced and processed? If language is the only reality we have access to (The limits of my language mean the limits of my world – as Wittgenstein said), what can we learn about the world from the languages of the Deaf? What is universal about their experience of communicating, and what is unique? And come none of my friends have any Deaf friends?
Information
- Director: Wojtek Ziemilski
- Set design, associate director: Wojtek Pustoła
- Lighting design: Artur Sienicki
- Music: Aleksander Żurowski
- Costumes: Krystian Jarnuszkiewicz
- Translation: Joanna Ciesielska, Katarzyna Glozak
Cast:
- Marta Abramczyk
- Jolanta Sadłowska
- Pavel Sosinski
- Adam Stoyanov
Awards
- Grand Prix 38. Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Switzerland
Tournee
- 5-6 November 2016 Menų spaustuvė/ Arts Printing House, Wilno, Litwa
- 10 December 2016 Avant Garden, Trondheim, Norwegia
- 15 May 2017 57. Kaliskie Spotkania Teatralne
- 21 May 2017 Spotkania Teatralne Bliscy Nieznajomi, Poznań
- 31 May 2017 VII Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatralna Karuzela, Teatr Pinokio, Łódź
- 21-23 August 2017 Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich, Szwajcaria|
- 25 September 2017 Divadelna Nitra, Nitra, Słowacja
- 1 October 2017 Festiwal MESS, Sarajewo, Bośnia i Hercegowina
- 13 October 2017 Konfrontacje Teatralne, Lublin
- 17-18 October 2017 Dialog-Wrocław, Wrocław
- 4-5 November 2017 Festival Fast Forward. Europäisches Festival für junge Regie, Drezno
- 9-10 November 2017 No Limits, Internationales Theaterfestival, Berlin
- 21 November 2017 Teatr im. Żeromskiego, Kielce
- 16 March 2018 BAZAAR Festival, Prague, Czech Republic
- 26-28 October 2018 Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Wunzhen, China
- 28-29 November 2018 Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallin, Estonia
- 3-4 December 2018 Dirty Deal Teatro, Riga, Latvia
- 9 October 2019, Orangerie Theater im Volksgarten, URBÄNG! Festival, Cologne, Germany
- 30 October 2019, Klaipeda Drama Theatre, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Tournee to Tallin and Riga is financed from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, within the scope of the Multiannual Program INDEPENDENT2017-2021, as part of the Cultural bridges subsidy program of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
1 October 2020, Centrum Kultury i Sztuki w Koninie, Konin
2 October 2020, Stowarzyszenie Jarocin XXI, Jarocin
4 October 2020, Nowosolski Dom Kultury, Nowa Sól
5 October 2020, Szprotawski Dom Kultury, Szprotawa
18 November 2020, Miejskie Centrum Kultury w Bełchatowie, Bełchatów
19 November 2020, Siemianowickie Centrum Kultury, Siemianowice Śląskie
21 November 2020, Tarnogórskie Centrum Kultury, Tarnowskie Góry
22 November 2020, Miejsko-Gminne Centrum Kultury, Jelcz-Laskowice
The performances in autumn 2020 are financed from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, within the scope of the Program TEATR POLSKA, carried out by The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute.
See also
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Odyssey. A Story for Hollywood
Theater
15–17.11Odyssey. A Story for Hollywood
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Metamorphosis
Theater
21–23.11Metamorphosis
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Operomanija: Have a good day!
Music
29.11 Fri 19:00Operomanija: Have a good day!
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Winter Light
Theater
28–30.12Winter Light