Daniel Kotowski is a Warsaw-based artist working on issues of inclusion in language. Born deaf and not using spoken language, through his work he explores the power dynamics in biological, social and linguistic communication in the context of biopolitics. Kotowski addresses the themes of normalization, conditioning, and the concept of free speech from the perspective of people whose senses function differently.  At Picke Bar Kotowski will present a new commissioned performance  “Delighting”, dedicated to examining the nature of feeling of horror or traumatic experience, which often when communicated through purely body movement, can be perceived as the expression of delight. Often those who do not know sign language see it as an expression of corporeality or a performativity. The performance examines the space of multiple interpretations and translations between the visual language of the body and the words and meanings.

Pickle Bar is a non-profit project space for research, performance and new formats of discursive programs in Berlin-Moabit, launched in 2020 by Slavs and Tatars and curators Patricia Couvet and Anastasia Marukhina. Dedicated to an unlikely form of knowledge production – one where hospitality and discourse are inseparable – Pickle Bar addresses items of urgency, through deep dives into often-overlooked areas of study in oral and cultural histories, material culture, language and gender studies, with the focus on the region of Eurasia. Pickle Bar is the Slavic equivalent of an aperitivo bar, where instead of cheese and wine, different fermented juices and bites are served. Pickle Bar invites other artists, thinkers, writers, and researchers to explore the limits of ideologies and the edges of belief systems.