Sprich deutsch oder stirb
single channel video installation. HD format, color, Pal
Sign language is a minority, a dialect within each speaking community. There is no universal. For the exhibition, the artist collaborates with an interpreter for the deaf and hard of hearing, to reflect together on the necessary development of tolerant societies open to diverse languages for a healthy communication and spiritual and human growth. As well as alerting about the danger that nationalisms establish in language to delimit borders of coexistence.
During a long-term research project, the artist has collaborated with Okan Seese, a deaf artist of German-born Turkish origin, as well as German deaf-mute translators. Okan is an actor, musical translator, sign language poet, presenter, and comedian. He participated in a demonstration that this deaf-mute community realized to demand more respect, inclusion and attention from German society.
Using the controversial title “Sprich deutsch oder stirb», theme by the Turkish-German rapper Volkan T, who makes a version of the song from the controversial “Speak English or die!”, from the American rock band SOD. In this project, the artist is interested in giving voice to the concerns, the poetics of critical thinking and that of deaf people, through their own artistic interventions