The piece deals with the Deaf community’s reclaiming of visibility after having been marginalised by society. The author is a deaf person who communicates in Polish Sign Language. However, he tends to avoid using the language in his visual art. In the video installation, whose main element is a for-camera performance, Kotowski breaks this rule for the first time. The choreography of the body as dance (and, by implication, singing) blends with communication in sign language, emphasising the pun in the work’s title. The artist is dressed in a black costume — the typical attire of sign language interpreters, which merely serves as a backdrop for her moving hands. The choice of specific attire — a women’s swimsuit paired with pink Crocs clogs — is not only a gesture of departure from tradition, but also a queer play drawing attention to issues of identity and gender stereotypes.

‘The choreography is based on a hip movement similar to the swaying of songs interpreted in sign language. This is a reference to the title, in which the artist plays on the similarity between the word “SIGNING” and the word “SINGING” to express his disapproval of the treatment of his everyday language as an ornamental dance. For most of the performance, Kotowski takes on the role of a proud speaker, skilfully manipulating the audience. . . . At a certain point, however, he clearly turns into a person full of helplessness and then growing anger. Finally, shouting “word”, he uses his own voice. It is a poignant moment of desperate recourse to the spoken communication that dominates our reality. The performer recreates sign language signs that are ridiculed in memes. . . . He gains agency by borrowing the tools of oppressive power’, writes Jagna Domżalska.

A pink satin fabric forms the frame for the performance, an integral part of the video installation — it spills out of the monitor screen and takes over the space, highlighting the desire for visibility.