Exhibition

The Dialogue in Silence exhibition invites visitors into a completely soundless world. The space consists of a series of circular rooms dedicated to different aspects of non-verbal communication. All walls are specially constructed with a fabric absorbing sound to the best of effects while providing a monochromatic background. The visitor’s visual concentration is not distracted and full attention can be is given to the hearing impaired guide and the task ahead.

In small groups, they are led through the totally soundproof exhibition venue by deaf or hearing-impaired guides. The silence helps visitors to reconsider the way they communicate because, inside the exhibition, language needs to be visualized in order to be comprehensible. Since sign language is not very widely used among hearing people, communication inside the exhibition will be non-verbal, but intelligible to all. The various installations and settings inside the venue focus on different aspects of non-verbal communication like facial expression, gestures and body language. In the last room of the exhibition, visitors will find themselves in a Dialogue room together with a sign language interpreter, so they can feed their newly found curiosity about deaf culture by going into a lively exchange with their facilitator from the exhibition.

The whole experience consists of 6 rooms:

1. Invitation to Silence
2. Dance of the Hands
3. Gallery of Faces
4. Play with Signs
5. Forum of Figures 6. Dialogue Salon