Rebellion of the Deaf is a performance and film by one of the most interesting visual artists of the middle generation, an associate professor at the Chair of Intermedia of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. The eponymous Rebellion of the Deaf refers to the protest of deaf students from the American Gallaudet University, who in 1988 fought for the appointment of the first deaf rector in history. The project was inspired by the story of a Dutch artist, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, born in Europe. When she was born, social services advised her parents to raise her without using their own language, in order to better assimilate her. The parents, who did not know Dutch, brought up their daughter practically without speaking to her: they used only about 50 of the simplest words at home. Her relationship with her family was very similar to that usually created by deaf children with hearing parents. The text, which is the basis of the film and performance, presents situations of difficult closeness, disturbed by a lack of a common language or by an inability to communicate. Another part of it is the history of deaf communities, their struggle for recognition of their cultural identity and for sign language to be granted the status of a fully-fledged language. There are also plots of deprivatory language experiments and stories of creating universal languages, which were intended by the authors to enable communication of all people.

Playwright: Bogna Burska
Director: Bogna Burska, cooperation on the film: Magda Mosiewicz
Starring: Klara Bielawka, Ewelina Żak, Marta Kalinowska (sign language translator)
POLIN Choir: Agnieszka Górska, Agnieszka Skiba, Aneta Rajca, Anetta Przybył-Bryńska, Anna Jurkiewicz, Anna Wieczorek, Barbara Baranowska, Barbara Popławska, Barbara Szymanowska, Barbara Walczak, Bogna Różyczka, Dagmara Siwczyk, Dominika Jędrzejczak, Edyta Pawłowska, Elżbieta Balano, Elżbieta Jasińska, Elżbieta Zawada, Ewa Chomicka, Ida Sarnacka, Irena Klein, Irena Wiesiołek, Iwona Goździkowska, Joanna Olejniczak, Joanna Stankiewicz, Justyna Orlińska, Katarzyna Andrejczuk, Katarzyna Makaruk, Kinga Wołoszyn-Kowanda, Magdalena Miśkowicz, Małgorzata Berwid, Małgorzata Czmut, Małgorzata Kozek, Marcjanna Bulik, Mira Poręba, Monika Bujak, Natalia Obrębska, Octavian Milewski, Piotr Głodek, Piotr Woźniakiewicz, Urszula Iwińska, Urszula Strych, Witold Borowik.
Ewa Chomicka - curator, coordinator
Sean Palmer - composer, conductor
Jakub Pałys - composer, vocal coach
Cinematography and editing (film): Magda Mosiewicz
Sound production (film): Paulina Sacha
Curator on behalf of Zachęta: Hanna Wróblewska
Cooperation: Aleksandra Szklarczyk
Partner of the event: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews