Revolt of the Deaf. Renewal. is a performance that engages with communication, language, and accessibility through both its form and content. The premiere of the original version of Bunt Głuchych took place at Zachęta in 2018. Seven years later, we return to it with a richer experience of co-creating events with the deaf/Deaf community, developing projects, collaborating across different contexts, and taking on the challenges of working within art institutions and academic frameworks.
The titular deaf/Deaf rebellion is only one of the threads woven into the plot of this performance about the social significance of language. It refers to a historical event in 1988: the protest by students at Gallaudet University in Washington, which led to the appointment of the first deaf president of a higher education institution in history. The immediate inspiration for the performance, however, came from a different story: that of a Dutch artist, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, born in Europe and raised without the use of her parents’ native language. The context of the performance is therefore broad, but the story of the protest at the university in Washington clearly carries a symbolic dimension. It is also the only story invoked in the project that has a happy ending.
In the new version of the performance, the choir is made up of hearing and deaf/Deaf participants. The involvement of a vocal-sign choir has the potential not only to become a new artistic proposition, but also to provide a basis for building an equal space within culture and for creating an inclusive artistic community founded on mutual understanding, respect for different needs, and agency. Accessibility is a structural part of the performance’s form. Hearing actresses and one hard-of-hearing actress appear on stage. Spoken Polish and Polish Sign Language are both present.
text and direction: Bogna Burska
curator, sign choir coordinator (January 2025): Daniel Kotowski
sign choir coordinator (January and November 2025): Daniel Kotowski
performers: Klara Bielawka, Ewelina Żak, Marta Kalinowska
composer, conductor: Sean Palmer
composer, vocal coach: Jakub Pałys
curator of Chór w Ruchu: Ewa Chomicka
choreographic consultation: Weronika Pelczyńska
accessibility coordination Emilia Rudzka
Polish Sign Language interpreters (November 2025): Alicja Famulska, Katarzyna Głozak
production (November 2025): Katarzyna Tomczak-Wysocka, Dominika Wiśniowska
production (January 2025): Anna Makowska, Joanna Saran
coordination (January 2025): Paulina Celińska
event promotion: Zofia Koźniewska, Alicja Malicka, Milena Liebe, Aleksandra Sienkiewicz, Alicja Sznajder, Justyna Wydra
Zachęta National Gallery of Art
Chór w Ruchu members (November 2025):
Adrianna Kitkowska, Agata Dalecka, Aleksandra Olszowska, Aneta Rajca, Anna Wieczorek, Barbara Szymanowska, Barbara Walczak, Barbara Baranowska, Beata Akbaş, Bożena Reger, Dagmara Siwczyk, Dominika Jędrzejczak, Edyta Pawłowska, Elżbieta Balano, Elżbieta Jasińska, Ewa Chomicka, Irena Klein,Irena Wiesiołek, Julia Supeł, Justyna Orlińska, Kamila Nawrocka. Katarzyna Andrejczuk, Katarzyna Pawluk, Kinga Wołoszyn-Kowanda, Magdalena Zaczek, Maja Chomik, Małgorzata Janina Berwid, Małgorzata Kozek, Maria Gromadowska, Maria Jolanta Nałęcz-Jawecka, Maryja Krats, Monika Majer-Wasilewska, Natalia Lidwa, Natalia Pacyga, Natalia Strzeszewska, Natalia Trybuła, Urszula Iwińska, Urszula Strych, Viki Polazava, Weronika Jeżewska
Chór w Ruchu members (January 2025):
Beata Akbaş, Katarzyna Andrejczuk, Elżbieta Balano, Barbara Baranowska, Małgorzata Janina Berwid, Ewa Chomicka, Maja Chomik, Agata Dalecka, Renata Dziurawiec, Iwona Goździkowska, Maria Gromadowska, Urszula Iwińska, Elżbieta Jasińska, Weronika Jeżewska, Dominika Jędrzejczak, Irena Klein,Małgorzata Kozek, Dominika Kozłowska, Maryja Krats, Natalia Lidwa, Kamila Nawrocka, Maria Jolanta Nałęcz-Jawecka, Natalia Obrębska, Joanna Olejniczak, Aleksandra Olszowska, Justyna Orlińska, Katarzyna Pawluk, Edyta Pawłowska, Weronika Pelczar, Aneta Rajca, Bożena Reger, Dagmara Siwczyk, Urszula Strych, Natalia Strzeszewska, Barbara Szymanowska, Barbara Walczak, Anna Wieczorek, Irena Wiesiołek, Kinga Wołoszyn-Kowanda, Magdalena Zaczek
Chór w Ruchu is a social, experimental, new choir with a history. For nine years, it developed alongside one of Warsaw’s museums, creating musical performances, exhibition-related events, artistic interventions, soundtracks for films, and theatre productions. During that time, it collaborated with outstanding artists, including Sean Palmer, Zorka Wollny, Bogna Burska, Wojtek Blecharz, Dominik Strycharski, Jaśmina Wójcik, Mikołaj Trzaska, and Aleksandra Gryka. Through these projects, an inclusive community emerged, bringing together people seeking non-standard means of expression and wishing to continue working and creating together at the intersection of music, performance, visual art, and spatial practice. Chór w Ruchu was established at the beginning of 2024 as a grassroots, itinerant initiative, open to new activities and possibilities. Since then, it has carried out projects with Komuna Warszawa (Song of the Future. A Concert for a Building and Choir, dir. Grzegorz Laszuk), Zachęta – National Gallery of Art (Bunt Głuchych. Renewal, dir. Bogna Burska), Łazienki Królewskie (All Women’s Victories, comp. Maria Ka), and Radio Kapitał (three cycles of Przesilenia, comp. Edka Jarząb, Halszka Sokołowska, Olga Mysłowska; choreography by Weronika Pelczyńska and Monika Jarosińska).