Language Beyond Speech: At The Polish Pavilion, Sound And Movement Construct Narrative

At the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Poland presents one of this year’s more conceptually ambitious installations. Titled Liquid Tongues, the project by Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski explores what communication looks like when speech is no longer the center of the conversation.

Curated by Ewa Chomicka and Jolanta Woszczenko, and produced by Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, the installation transforms the Polish Pavilion into a multisensory environment where sound, movement, gesture, and vibration replace conventional linguistic systems.

At the core of Liquid Tongues is the idea of communication as something embodied rather than spoken. Deaf and hearing performers move through underwater and above-water environments, using sign language, choreography, vocal experimentation, and sonic frequencies inspired by whale communication. In this suspended space, familiar hierarchies begin to collapse. Spoken language loses dominance. Sign becomes fluid. Sound becomes physical.

The project draws from the concept of Deaf Gain, a framework that sees deafness not as deficit, but as a distinct cultural and perceptual advantage. Instead of asking how Deaf communities adapt to dominant systems, Liquid Tongues asks what happens when those systems are inverted entirely.

Underwater becomes both metaphor and method. Hearing performers struggle with distorted speech, while Deaf performers communicate with clarity through movement and sign. The result is not simply role reversal, but a challenge to phonocentric thinking itself.

The installation also expands beyond human-centered communication. Whale songs, aquatic movement patterns, and references to collective marine behavior open a wider conversation about language across species, ecosystems, and forms of life.

Set within the curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh, which focuses on “minor keys” and overlooked narratives, Liquid Tongues operates quietly, but it refuses to be subtle. It asks who gets heard, who defines language, and what new futures become possible when communication is no longer tied to voice alone.

Liquid Tongues runs at the Polish Pavilion from May 9 through November 22, 2026.