Cut for New Times: A collaborative project at the School for the Deaf and the Museum of Decorative Art in Prague
Abstract
The title of the work refers metaphorically to a new way of communication and transformative power of art making by members of the majority society and the minority community of the Deaf, whose main language of communication is Czech sign language. In this study, we focus on the possibilities of communication in alternative languages, namely the languages of art.
We present a lively communication space between deaf/signing students, teachers and hearing educators from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, where deaf children visited for the first time. The analysis of the results of action research in the museum and subsequent teaching at school shows that the active participation of the artist and his didactic performance, which evokes the experience of the museum, creates a completely new space for the development of creative languages and the construction of new knowledge.
The barriers between the hearing majority and the deaf minority can thus be effectively overcome and a new didactics based on teacher/performer approaches created an inspiration for followers.