PLAYLISTS

The deaf community often exists in a society that overlooks its natural means of communication. While many deaf individuals rely on lip-reading, most hearing people have little or no understanding of sign languages. This gap fosters social isolation, compounded by the limited visibility of disability in education, media, and public life. For many, the rare appearance of sign language interpreters on television is the only acknowledgment of deaf existence.

DEAF.city creates a space for connection, recognition, and dialogue, using visual-gestural humor as a narrative tool of resistance. Through humorous stories, the project challenges hearing indifference while celebrating the expressive and cultural richness of sign languages. Humor becomes a bridge between communities, communicating irony, emotion, and social critique without sound. By transforming everyday experiences of misunderstanding or exclusion into laughter and reflection, DEAF.city empowers deaf storytellers to reclaim visibility through video monologues. Each performance affirms difference, fosters understanding, and turns humor into a political gesture, promoting inclusion and cultural diversity.

Since its inception in Valencia 2020, Mexico City 2021, Bilbao 2023, and São Paulo 2023, DEAF.city has engaged both deaf and hearing audiences. Twenty-six participants have shared humorous monologues in Spanish Sign Language (LSE), Mexican Sign Language (LSM), and Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS). Humor highlights each community’s cultural nuances while revealing a shared sensibility that transcends language and geography, establishing humor as a universal, bodily language of empathy and understanding.

The project follows a dual strategy. The DEAF.city website serves as an open, accessible repository. In parallel, multi-screen mosaic installations using TVs, projections, or LED panels bring the work to contemporary art centers and public spaces. These installations pair sign language videos with corresponding sounds—vocalizations, gestures, claps, and finger snaps—creating immersive audio-visual experiences that enhance narrative expressiveness.

DEAF.city leverages humor as an expressive and political tool to promote cultural visibility. By highlighting the richness of sign languages, the strength of deaf narratives, and ongoing identity struggles, humor challenges prejudice, builds communication bridges, and fosters understanding. Combining art, activism, and inclusion, DEAF.city is a transformative platform that offers access to deaf culture and language through storytelling, contributing to a more plural, diverse, and empathetic society.

2023 São Paulo *LIBRAS Língua Brasileira de Sinais _SUPPORTED BY ECA-USP Escola de Comunicações e Artes/Universidade de São Paulo _PARTICIPANTS Ana Laura Rocha Vendrame, Edvaldo Carmo dos Santos, Fabio de Sa e Silva, Fernanda Oliveira Santos, Idenilson Batista Souza, Vitória Lopes Porto Justa _INTERPRETER Karina Regina da Silva Oliveira _COORDENAÇÃO Isart Santos _THANKS TO Martin Grossmann, Rubens Rewald, Sandro Costa, Marcelo Godoy, Paulo Hartmann, André Fratti Costa.

2023 Bilbao *LSE Lengua de Signos Española _SUPPORTED BY Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao _PARTICIPANTS Amaia Mejía, Aitor Bedialauneta, Eduardo Amorós, Iñaki Montero _INTERPRETER Janire Martín _COLLABORATION Euskal Gorrak, BilboArte Fundazioa _THANKS TO Javier Riaño, Miriam Isasi, Aitor Arakistain, Txuspo Poyo.

2021 Mexico City *LSM Lengua de Señas Mexicana _SUPPORTED BY Unidades Lerma y Cuajimalpa de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana _PARTICIPANTS Gustavo Méndez, Indira López Cardona, Ixchel Solís García, Luis Alberto Valencia Beltrán, Luis Eduardo Méndez, Martha Cristina de Díaz, Mauricio Iván Álvarez García, Miguel Díaz, Verónica Álvarez _INTERPRETERS Ixchel Solís García, Daniela Vite _THANKS TO Octavio Mercado, Mónica Benítez, Hugo Solís, Angélica Martínez de la Peña, Andrea Barojas, Carolina Belén González, Gabriela Villa, Isabel García Hidalgo, César Martínez, Luis Eudardo Vaquera.

2020 Valencia *LSE Lengua de Signos Española _SUPPORTED BY Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània _COLLABORATION Federació De Persones Sordes CV, Las Naves _PARTICIPANTS Aurora López, David Riutort, Daniel Bautista, Josep Antoni Gimeno, Mónica Díez, Pepa Burgal, Sonia Piqueras _INTERPRETER Carmen Tos _THANKS TO Matteo Sisti Sette, Roc Parés, Daniel Julià, Maribel Domènech, Salomé Cuesta, Justina Pérez Cantos.

DEAF.city is a project by Antoni Abad   Contact